Restored Image
by Talespinner69
Summary: Follow-up to Broken Mirror. Having returned to Royal Woods, Lincoln Loud now has to try to reconcile with his family, as well as come to terms with what he did while he lived as a runaway. He's not sure which task will be more difficult. (OLD VERSION: DO NOT READ)
1. Chapter 1

Pre-chapter author's note: So yeah, this is the follow-up story to my previous Loud House story 'Broken Mirror'. This is where Lincoln will learn to come to terms with what he did while he lived as a runaway, as well as reconcile with his family (to the person who commented on 'Broken Mirror' that thought that Lincoln automatically forgave Lori, I have to point out that Lincoln actually _didn_ ' _t_ forgive her; Lincoln still resents all of his sisters, both parents and even the pets. It's just that Lincoln just didn't care enough at the time to make Lori suffer; also I did hint that Lincoln felt just a little bit of hope that he could refer to his family as his family once again). So, without further ado, here's the first chapter of 'Restored Image'.

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image

Chapter one: Unsettling Revelation

Vanzilla pulled into the driveway of the Loud family's residence in Royal Woods, Michigan, one late evening. After the practically ancient family van turned off, Lori Loud got out of the driver's seat. Hopping out of the passenger's seat was Lincoln Loud who, until just now, had been living as a runaway, having run away from home a few months beforehand after being mistreated by his family as a whole because he was decried as quote unquote 'bad luck'. "Well, here we are," Lori said to her little brother in as cheerful of a tone as she could manage. Gesturing to the Loud family residence, Lori said, "We're back home."

"Mmm," Lincoln hummed in response, his tone lacking any discernable emotion. After what occurred that prompted him to run away in the first place, Lincoln had to wonder…was he _really_ home? Should he really be giving his ex-family a chance to try and make it up to him for the way that they treated him because they let their imaginations run wild with a claim that they took way too far? Granted, Lincoln did have a hand in spreading said rumor to some extent, but he only did so because he otherwise wouldn't get some time to himself, something that he was starting to suspect was against family rules.

A mildly resigned look of heartbreak on her face, Lori said, "I know what we did to you was literally stupid, Lincoln, and I know that no number of apologies, no matter how sincere, will make up for what we were doing."

"…" Lincoln was silent for a few seconds, but then turned his head to look up at the oldest of his ex-sisters. "…Why else do you think that I'm letting you and the others try and prove to me how sorry you all are?" Lincoln boy replied after a few seconds, "Actions speak louder than words."

…Actions speak louder than words _indeed_.

"Well," Lori said with a shrug, "There's no beating around the bush here." Gesturing to the house that Lincoln once referred to as his home, a place he hoped to refer to as home once again, Lori continued, "We ought to be heading on inside now. I told everyone over the phone that I found you in the city that Bobby's family was going to move to before Mrs. Santiago decided to change her mind." Somewhat nervously, Lori added, "We all missed you, Lincoln."

"Mmm," Lincoln remarked, his tone devoid of any emotion, as he followed Lori up the front steps and over to the front door. However, Lincoln didn't get two steps into his ex-home before he was tackle-hugged by two blonde-haired objects that Lincoln quickly identified as Lola and Lana, the twin six-year-olds.

"LINCOLN!" the twins exclaimed in unison, tears rolling down the sides of their faces as they hugged their older brother, "YOU'RE BACK!"

"Lola, Lana, get off," Lori said in a stern tone. After the twins, both still teary-eyed, released their hold on Lincoln, Lori continued, "I know the both of you missed him. All of us literally missed Lincoln while he was missing. But he's had a very-" Lori was cut off when another blonde-haired object, one that was bigger than either of the twins, tackle-hugged Lincoln.

"LINKY!" Leni exclaimed tearfully as she picked her little brother up in a hug and spun around in place, "I TOTES THOUGHT YOU WEREN'T COMING BACK!"

"…Leni, put Lincoln down," Lori said in a mildly unamused tone. As Leni complied with Lori's order, the rest of the Loud siblings, having been summoned by the commotion the twins and Leni were making, all came into the main entry area of the house, with Lily being carried by Luna.

"Holy crap, what you said over the phone was right, Lori!" Luna said in a surprised tone as her gaze slowly shifted to the sole Loud boy, "You did find Lincoln!"

"How did you get all the way to some city in the next state over?" Lucy asked her older brother.

"What did you do to keep yourself alive?" Lisa asked.

"Wincon!" Lily exclaimed happily as she waved a hand at the white-haired boy.

"Are you okay, Lincoln?" Luan asked, her expression and tone both clearly conveying how much concern she had for her only brother.

"Do you know how-" Lynn began, but she was cut off when, due to being overwhelmed with being asked so much all at once, Lincoln cut her off.

"QUIET!" Lincoln yelled, getting everyone to shut up instantly and look to him in concern. Sighing in a resigned tone, the white-haired boy continued, "Look. I know you all have a few things that you want to ask me. I can understand that. But I'm…" Lincoln stopped short and let out a sigh that showed how tired he was. "…I'm tired, okay? I'm just tired." With a hint of bitterness seeping into his tone, Lincoln continued, "So, unless it's a cardinal sin for me to have some time to myself, I'd like to get some rest. I'll tell you all more in the morning."

"I fail to see how you having some time to yourself can be considered to be a serious error of judgment, Lincoln," Lisa remarked, more than a hint of emotion seeping into her otherwise dry monotone. The little genius also wore a look of mild concern on her face, as she was shocked to hear that her older brother thought it was a bad thing if he wanted some alone time.

"Yeah, about that, Lisa," Lori replied, "You, me and the other girls have a few things to talk about while Lincoln is getting some sleep."

"Assuming that I _can_ get some sleep," Lincoln replied in a dry, bitter tone, getting all of his ex-sisters to turn to regard him. Crossing his arms over his chest, Lincoln continued with a scowl on his face, "Because unless my memory is failing me, I seem to recall that my room was boarded up, preventing me from getting inside."

"I took all of that junk down off of your door, Lincoln," Lana stated.

"I went with mom when she went to go buy your furniture back after she sold it under the impression that it was tainted by bad luck," Lola added.

Hearing what his pageant-winning ex-little sister said made Lincoln's scowl worse. "…She sold my furniture under the impression that it was tainted by bad luck?" the white-haired boy asked, his tone indicating that his mood has dropped even more.

Sounding regretful for having unintentionally making her brother more upset, Lola timidly said, "We…we got it back."

"…Whatever," Lincoln replied as he went upstairs. As he ascended to the second floor, Lincoln said, "Hey Lori, I'm going to guess that you and your sisters have a lot to talk about while I'm sleeping. If you cover anything that you think needs to be kept from Ronnie Anne and the rest of her family, please stress that point to the others."

"Wait a minute, Linky," Leni said in a concerned, almost heartbroken tone, one that made the white-haired boy pause. "We aren't just Lori's sisters," Leni continued as tears started to well up in the corners of her eyes, "We're, like, totes your sisters as well."

Standing still where he was at on the stairs, Lincoln said before continuing, "…You have a lot to go over with your sisters, Lori." After making a turn when he reached the second floor, Lincoln was out of sight from Lori and the other Loud sisters. After a few seconds, Lori gave a resigned-sounding sigh.

"…Girls," Lori began, "Sibling meeting, me and Leni's room. Now."

* * *

Within a few minutes, the ten Loud sisters had all assembled in the bedroom shared by Lori and Leni. Seeing that all eyes were on her, Lori sighed and said, "As I'm sure all of you can literally guess, we're having this meeting because-"

"Lincoln's finally back home?" Luan asked, interrupting Lori in the process. Although it's normally not a good idea to interrupt Lori when a sibling meeting is going on, the oldest Loud sister decided to let it slide for now.

"…Yes," Lori replied with a nod, "Our brother is finally back home where he belongs." Sighing in a resigned tone, Lori continued, "Show of hands, who here thinks that Lincoln literally belongs here with this family?" At that prompting, every sister, including Lori herself, raised their hands. "Good," Lori replied as everyone began to lower their raised hands, "That's good. Now that we got that out of the way, we can go on to the main subject of this meeting; proving to Lincoln that he belongs with this family."

"Lincoln…" Lola began in a clearly upset and heartbroken tone, "…Lincoln doesn't think that he belongs with us…?"

"You heard what he said, sis," Lana remarked somberly to her younger twin sister, "He referred to all of us as just Lori's sisters, not his and Lori's sisters." Casting a downcast expression to the floor, Lana added, "And why should he think any different? I mean, it's not like any of us gave him any reason to think otherwise before he disappeared."

"Speaking of Lincoln's disappearance from Royal Woods and sub-sequent reappearance over in some city in the next state over," Lisa began, then continued when she turned to face Lori, "Judging from what our brother said before heading up to his room, you have some information that should be shared. Is this correct, Lori?"

Nodding somberly, Lori said, "Yeah. You all better get comfortable, because this is going to take a while." Over the next few minutes, Lori told her sisters everything, starting from when Lori drove Vanzilla over to the city that the Santiagos almost moved to, to Lori calling the family to let them know that by some extreme miracle Lincoln had shown up in said city, then the return drive to Royal Woods. The oldest Loud sibling sparred no detail, including how, when Bobby was questioning Lincoln, Lori was afraid that he would tell Bobby of her (Lori's) involvement in the whole 'bad luck' incident. "…We stopped off at a taco place because there was literally no way we would get back within a reasonable time for dinner," Lori said as she finished up her story, "But other than that, it was a straight drive from Bobby's relatives' place to back here."

"He's…" Luna began in a quiet tone of total disbelief, "…He's actually giving us a shot at trying to make it up to him…?"

"Even though he totally hates all of us?" Luan said with an upset look on her face, "Especially me, Lola, Lisa and Lynn?" The upset look on Luan's face was being matched by the looks on Lola's and Lisa's respective faces.

"Now hang on there, Luan," Lynn began in a confident tone, "Lincoln only mentioned the four of us because Lincoln didn't want Bobby to be upset with Lori, and that Bobby was expecting him to name some names, and that we were the only ones who came to mind for him at the time. Besides, Lori did say that Lincoln regretted having to throw all of us under the bus like that." Hearing their sporty sister point all of this out did restore some spirits to Luan, Lola and Lisa, if only just.

"Hang on a minute there, Lynn," Lori interrupted, "Lincoln said that he only regretted having to throw Luan, Lola and Lisa under the bus like that." Giving her sporty younger sister a suspicious look, Lori continued, "Lincoln didn't say anything about _you_."

"What are you talking about?" Lynn asked, taken aback a bit.

Without answering Lynn directly, Lori turned to face Lisa. "Hey Lisa," Lori began, "You have that video surveillance system of yours installed all over the house, right?"

"That is correct," Lisa replied.

"And it should go back to the morning that all of the bad luck nonsense started, right?" Lori said, continuing her line of questioning.

"I have video recordings of everything that happened going all the way back to when I first installed the surveillance system, which was shortly after I turned two," Lisa replied, "Why do you ask?"

"I don't suppose that you can pull up what happened on the date that I had just specified, could you?" Lori asked.

"It'll take a minute or so, but it shouldn't be a problem for me," Lisa answered.

…

Lynn Sr. and Rita Loud, the parents of the Loud siblings, were in the kitchen/dining room area, sitting across from each other at the table. They both had somber expressions on their faces; Lincoln, their only son out of eleven children, had run away some time ago, and had only just been found earlier this day…in a city that was a state away, no less. Luckily for the Louds, Lincoln had run away to the same city that the Santiagos were considering moving to until Maria changed her mind. Lori drove to that city in some half-baked bid to try and convince her boyfriend's family against the idea of moving, and by some miracle or chance, Lincoln was found lying passed-out on the sidewalk across from there the Santiago's relatives lived. If it hadn't been for all of that, there was a good chance that Lynn Sr. and Rita would never see their only son ever again.

But they did see him again; well, technically, they haven't seen him _yet_ , as he was brought back while they were out, and he went straight to his room because of how incredibly tired he was, and he pretty much made it clear that he didn't want to be disturbed. But they would see him in the morning, which Lynn Sr. intended to make sure started off right with breakfast.

"Do…do you think he's upset with us?" Lynn Sr. asked, his expression mildly anxious.

"I wouldn't blame him if he was," Rita replied in a somber tone, "I mean, don't you remember how we treated him? We kicked him out of the house, Lynn. Not only is it morally wrong on so many levels to do that to a child, but I'm pretty sure that it's also ill-" The Loud matriarch was cut off when she and her husband heard one of their daughters cry out in pain, followed by some angry shouting. From the sounds if it, it sounded like it came from Lori and Leni's room.

"You stay here," Rita said to Lynn Sr. as she got up from the table, "I'll go see what the girls are up to." Rita walked out of the kitchen/dining area, up the stairs, and over to the room that was shared by her two oldest children. Upon opening the door, Rita said in a mildly firm tone, "Girls, if you all can't-" Rita stopped short upon noticing what exactly was going on; her daughter Lynn was covering her right eye with her hands on one side of the room, and on the other side of the room, Lori and Luna were trying to restrain a clearly angry Leni.

"Leni, I know what Lynn did was literally stupid, but you've got to calm down!" Lori exclaimed as she and Luna struggled to restrain the enraged sixteen-year-old.

"GRILS!" Rita shouted. With everyone's attention on her, Rita asked, "What's going on here?"

"At Lori's request, I pulled up the video recording my surveillance system got from the morning when the nonsense of Lincoln being quote unquote 'bad luck' started," Lisa began, "It was shortly before a softball game that Lynn's team ended up losing. According to Lynn, Lincoln had never been to any game that she ever played, and she wanted him to show up to the softball game in question. According to the footage that my surveillance system recorded, Lincoln tried to decline Lynn's request to come to her game, only for Lynn to coerce Lincoln into coming via threatening him with a baseball bat."

Rita was both shocked and appalled from what she was hearing; did Junior really threaten her little brother into attending one of her games against his will? The Loud matriarch wanted to be having words about this with her athletic daughter, but something of a more pressing nature had to be handled first. While pointing to Lynn, Rita said to Lisa, "And your sister is covering her eye because…"

"Upon seeing the recoding of Lynn threatening Lincoln with a baseball bat, Leni went berserk and punched Lynn in the eye," Lisa stated, "As you can tell by how Lori and Luna were struggling to keep Leni restrained until you shouting made all of us take pause." With a mildly surprised look on her face, Lisa added, "I never would have expected Leni, of all people, to ever physically strike someone, regardless of the reason."

Turning to where Lynn was standing while still covering her eye, Rita sighed. "Junior, lower your hands," Rita instructed, "I want to see the extent of what your older sister did." Complying with what her mother had asked, Lynn slowly lowered her hands, revealing the injury she had just received. Although there was very little swelling if any at all, there was a _lot_ of the dark coloring that generally comes with bruises. Rita had no idea how this was even possible. None of the Loud sisters, once they saw Lynn's black eye, knew the answer to that either.

Letting out an impressed-sounding whistle, Luan said, "Wow, Lynn, that's quite the shiner you got there."

"I've seen some of the damage that Ronnie Anne gave to kids at school who got on her nerves, but I never saw her give anyone a black eye like that," Lana remarked. Turning to face Leni, Lana added, "Remind me never to get on your bad side, Leni."

"Dude, why did you have to go and flip out like that?" Luna asked her fashionable sister.

"It's Lynn's fault that Lincoln ran away in the first place!" Leni hissed angrily as she pointed an accusing finger at Lynn, "She forced him to go to one of her games even though he didn't want to, then when her team lost, she said it was his fault! That is without a doubt one of the worst things any of us could have ever done to Lincoln!" As tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, Leni continued, "Hell, I bet that if Lynn didn't force him to go to that game of hers, Lincoln would still know that we're his family instead of believing that we don't love him anymore!" After her explosion at Lynn, Leni began to cry softly to herself.

"…Girls," Rita said, "I think it's time for everyone to go to bed." Understanding what their mother was saying, the girls aside from Lori and Leni all proceeded to shuffle out of the room. As she and Lucy walked passed their mother, Lynn was stopped by the Loud matriarch. "Junior," Rita said in a mildly firm tone, "We'll be discussing this more in the morning."

"Yes mom," Lynn replied guiltily before she proceeded to follow Lucy back to the room that they shared. After the youngest girls had left, Rita turned to face her two oldest daughters. Seeing that Leni was still crying, Rita did what any mother would do; she walked over and gave Leni a gentle hug.

"Are you going to be okay sweetie?" Rita asked.

Sniffling a bit, Leni asked, "Am I, like, in trouble for punching Lynn in the eye?"

"I…don't know," Rita replied, "Given the circumstances, that will be something we'll have to discuss in the morning, after your younger sister's punishment is decided." Letting go of Leni, Rita looked her in the eye and said in a gentle, motherly tone, "In the meanwhile, why don't you and Lori get some sleep, huh?" Sniffling as she nodded, Leni went over to her bed while Lori went to her own. As she left the room, Rita said, "Good night, girls." Rita closed the door behind her, and after Lori and Leni turned off the lamps on their respective nightstands, the two oldest Loud siblings went to sleep.

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER ONE

Author's notes:

I was actually intending to put the designation of Lynn's punishment in this chapter, but it would have made this chapter go on longer than I would have wanted. I'll put that at the beginning of the next chapter; I was having some trouble trying to come up with enough material for the next chapter anyway, so I suppose this all works out for the best.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image

Chapter two: Uncanny Resemblance

The following morning, Lincoln was down at the dining table, eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast before his first day back at school before running away. The white-haired boy had a feeling that his sudden return to Royal Woods Elementary School would be the talk of the school for at least the rest of the week, and that this first day back would be when the talk would be at its peak. As such, Lincoln figured that it would be best to get something to eat before he faced the day. As he ate his cereal, Lincoln's father, Lynn Sr., was trying to make small talk with him.

"So, umm…" Lynn Sr. began somewhat nervously, unsure on how to go about talking to his son, "…Today's going to be a big day, huh?"

"I suppose that would be accurate to say, sir," Lincoln replied without bothering to look away from his breakfast.

"Heh," Lynn Sr. said as he gave a nervous chuckle, "I didn't figure you'd be so respectful this early in the morning, son."

"Am I?" Lincoln replied, a mild hint of bitterness that Lynn Sr. failed to recognize seeping into his tone, "Am I really?"

"Umm, well yeah," Lynn Sr. answered, "Yeah, you're very respectful, Lincoln."

"…That's not what I meant," Lincoln said, the bitterness in his tone still undetected.

A confused look on his face, Lynn Sr. asked, "What do you mean?" Before Lincoln could answer, Rita and the Loud sisters walked into the dining area, distracting Lynn Sr. and Lincoln. Seeing his daughter Lynn Jr. walk in, Lynn Sr. sighed in a resigned tone and said, "Junior, your mother and I need to talk to you."

"Yes, dad," Lynn replied in a dejected tone, knowing full well what was going to happen.

"Now your mother told me everything that happened last night as we were settling down for bed," Lynn Sr. began in a stern tone, "So I'm not going to bore the rest of us here with the details. Let me first just say that I am very disappointed in you. What you did that day was totally uncalled for, and you should be ashamed of yourself." The sporty Loud sister didn't even try to object; she knew that she had to take this.

"Now originally, your mother was considering grounding you for about two months," Lynn Sr. continued, "However, I came up with a different idea that, after your mother and I discussed it for a bit, we decided to go for instead." Gesturing to Lincoln, Lynn Sr. said, "We're going to let your brother decide how you're punished."

Hearing their dad say that made some of the other Loud sisters all go "OOOOOOOOOOH!" in clearly amused tones; Lincoln was going to get to decide how Lynn was going to be punished? Oh, this ought to be good! In fact, some of the girls were even kind enough to offer Lincoln a nice variety of suggestions for Lynn's punishment.

"Make her volunteer as a test subject for some of my experiments!" Lisa said.

"Get mom and dad to take her off all of her sports teams!" Lola offered.

"Make her dress up in a superhero costume and go with you to one of your comic book conventions!" Luna suggested.

"Let me punch her other eye!" Leni nearly begged.

"Girls, girls, calm down," Lynn Sr. said to his daughters, "This is Lincoln's decision." Turning back around to face Lincoln, Lynn Sr. said, "So what do you think, son? If you don't have an idea right now, you don't have to make a choice. Feel free to give it some time while you're at school today."

After regarding Lynn Sr. for a few seconds, Lincoln said, "Personally, I don't really see why I should care."

"…Lincoln?" Lynn Sr. said in a concerned tone.

Taking his now empty bowl over to the sink, Lincoln deposited the dishes before turning back around and saying, "Why should I care how you punish your daughter, sir? Shouldn't something like that be decided by you and your wife?" The Loud patriarch, upon hearing what his son had just said, felt as if someone had just ripped his heart out, threw it very hard onto the ground, then proceeded to grind it under the heel of their foot. Lynn Sr. realized then and there why Lincoln had suddenly taken to calling him 'sir'; it was a realization that broke his heart.

Seeing the looks on Lynn Sr.'s and Rita's respective faces, as well as seeing Rita cry softly, Lincoln sighed in a resigned tone. "…Go ahead with the original idea of grounding her for two months," Lincoln said with an indifferent wave of his right hand, "Also, feel free to add Lisa's suggestion if you want."

"What about what we offered, bro?" Luna asked as she gestured to herself, Lola and Leni.

"From what I can tell, your sister needs to stay on her sports teams so that she has some outlet for her energy that doesn't involve violence," Lincoln began, "As for the other two, I don't think physically striking her is really called for…" Casting a bitter glare at Lynn, Lincoln added, "…And I wouldn't be caught dead with her at a comic book convention. Or anywhere, for that matter." The rest of the family, Lynn especially, could feel the bitterness radiating off of the sole Loud boy. Bitterness that was their fault. Bitterness that made them guilty beyond measure.

Turning to regard Lori, Lincoln said, "You're driving everyone to school, right? I'm ready to go when everyone else is."

"R-right," the oldest Loud sibling said, her tone sounding mildly unsure, "Let me just get something to eat first." Lincoln nodded once in understanding before the other Loud sisters went about getting something to eat before heading off to school for the day. That breakfast was a rather awkward one.

* * *

A short while later, Lincoln was walking through the halls of Royal Woods Elementary. To the surprise of the white-haired boy, his friend Rusty Spokes was the first of his friends to meet up with him. "Man, you have been gone for _ages_!" Rusty said as the two fifth-grade boys walked and talked, "What happened to you, dude?"

"It's not something I'm really comfortable talking about, Rusty," Lincoln replied, the look on his face and the sound of his tone making his discomfort obvious. To his credit, Rusty recognized that it was a touchy subject for his friend, and decided to let it be.

"I'm guessing that it's something of a personal matter?" Rusty said. With an understanding nod, Rusty continued, "Don't sweat it, Lincoln. I ain't gonna-"

"So, _you_ ' _re_ Lincoln," a mysterious voice called out, getting Rusty to stop midsentence and prompting both boys to look around. Eventually, they both spotted a third-grade boy come walking up to them. He had brown hair that roughly reached the base of his neck, he wore a reddish-brown long-sleeved shirt under a green t-shirt, a pair of cargo shorts the same color as his long-sleeved shirt, white socks and black shoes. He also wore a pair of glasses. Apparently, Rusty recognized the boy, because he waved at him.

"Oh, 'sup Argent," Rusty greeted, "Rocky told me that the two of you got a pretty good grade on a group project."

Turning to face Rusty, the third-grade boy, apparently named Argent, gave a small smile as he said, "Yeah, Rocky and I got the best grade in class."

"I…take it that this is a friend of your little brother's?" Lincoln said to Rusty as he gestured to the third-grade boy that came up to them.

Turning to regard Lincoln, Rusty nodded before saying, "Yeah, man. This is Argent Ace. He's in the same third-grade class as Rocky and Lucy." Lincoln turned to get a look at the third-grade boy. For reasons that escaped him, Lincoln couldn't help but feel as if this Argent kid looked kind of familiar, yet he couldn't for the life of him figure out why.

Shifting his gaze to focus on Lincoln specifically, Argent said, "I'm going to assume that you're related to that Lucy girl in my class, seeing as how Rusty just mentioned her by name. That would make sense, seeing as how Lucy's been acting kind of distant for the past few months, and the most that I've heard about it is that it had something to do with someone named Lincoln."

"Yeah Argent," Rusty explained as he made the introductions, "This is my pal Lincoln Loud. He's Lucy's older brother." After hearing this explanation from the older Spokes boy, Argent simply shook his head.

"…Yeah, I figured as much," Argent said, "I figured that Chandler guy in the fifth grade was lying about someone named Larry. I never trusted a single word that Chandler said ever since I first saw him."

"You're a smarter kid than most, Argent," Rusty remarked with a nod of approval, "It still beats me how that jerk is so popular."

"Not to mention creepy," Argent continued, "My sister told me that Chandler tried flirting with her at least twice, and it kind of creeps her out since she isn't even all that familiar with the guy."

"Your sister?" Lincoln said in a mildly confused tone.

"Oh yeah," Rusty said as he turned to face Lincoln, "Argent here has a sister in the same grade as you and me. I think her name is…Anna?"

"Anna is my sister in the first grade," Argent corrected, "My sister in the fifth grade is Astrid."

"Heh, sorry about that," Rusty replied to the third-grade boy, "But me and everyone else in my class hardly ever see her."

"Mmm, that's understandable," Argent said in an understanding tone, "Astrid's got some sort of kidney problem that I'm not all that familiar with that keeps her home sick a lot. But this is kind of getting off subject." To Lincoln, Argent continued, "You've been gone for how long?"

"Roughly two months or so," Lincoln replied.

"Two months, huh?" Argent said, "…Yeah, that'll do it. You being gone for that long, then suddenly coming back to school, will undoubtedly get people talking. Your sudden return will probably be more of a discussion topic during lunch and recess than the rumors that Ronnie Anne Santiago was going to move."

"People were actually talking about that?" Lincoln asked, a mildly surprised look on his face.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Argent explained, "When word gets around that a girl with a reputation like Ronnie Anne's might be moving, people will be talking, especially those who fear the quote unquote 'toughest girl in fifth grade'."

"Yeah, I'm kind of afraid of Ronnie Anne myself," Rusty admitted. To Lincoln, Rusty added, "It beats me how you aren't afraid of her yourself, dude."

"I…have my reasons," Lincoln said.

A look of piqued interest spread across Agent's face after hearing what Lincoln and Rusty had just said. "You were gone for two months then suddenly return," Argent began, " _And_ you aren't afraid of Ronnie Anne? Even Chandler and his goons give that girl a wide berth, out of fear for their own wellbeing." With a chuckle, Argent continued, "You sound pretty cool, Lincoln."

"Thanks, I guess," Lincoln replied, mildly surprised by the third-grade boy's words of praise.

Nodding a few times in acknowledgement, Argent said, "You're welcome. Well anywho, I ought to be heading to class. We're expecting to start another group project, so Rocky and I should discuss what we're going to do for it." Turning around, Argent said as he walked away, "Later."

After Argent was out of sight, Rusty turned to face Lincoln. "He's got a point about getting to class, Lincoln," Rusty began, "Besides, I bet that everyone will be excited to see you finally back in class, especially Clyde, Zach and Liam." It's true that, due to his being gone for so long, that Lincoln hasn't seen any of his friends. The white-haired boy figured that he and the others had a lot to catch up on, preferably during lunch or recess. Nodding in agreement, Lincoln followed Rusty over to class.

* * *

During recess later that day, Lincoln was talking to all of his friends, who seemed eager to ask him question after question about what happened to him. Of course, given the true nature of why he was gone for so long, as well as what he did while he was gone, he wisely picked which questions to answer fully, along with which lines of questioning he asked not go any further. As it was with Rusty, the other three boys respected Lincoln's feelings on the matter when he said that he didn't feel comfortable answering a certain question.

"Lincoln, dude, with all due respect, you're going to have _a lot_ of homework to catch up on," Clyde said, "If you want, I can help you out with that."

"There's no need for that," Lincoln explained, "Form what I've been told, Lisa's been handling my homework for me while I was out." The white-haired boy figured that his genius ex-sister did his homework for him while he was gone in hopes that it'd help make things up to him. As far as Lincoln was concerned at the moment, if Lisa was as smart as she oh-so often claimed, then she wouldn't have fallen for the whole 'bad luck' bit in the first place.

"Isn't she only four-year-old?" Liam asked, a mildly confused look on his face.

"You have no idea how smart Lincoln's little sister is, do you?" Clyde said in something of a dry tone as he turned to face Liam.

"Well I-" Liam began, but he was cut off when he heard a kid cry out in pain, followed by some shouting from other kids.

"Sounds like a fight might be breaking out," Zach remarked, prompting the other four boys to nod in agreement with him. As a group, the five boys ran in the direction they heard the noises come from. When they arrived where a group of students had formed something of a ring, the boys had to push their way in towards the center so they could see what was going on.

When they got a glimpse of what was going on, they were shocked with what they saw; Argent, who only Lincoln and Rusty recognized, was covering his left eye with his hand as he stood about several feet away facing a kid that was somewhat bigger than him. This boy looked like a typical schoolyard bully, what with his short hair, somewhat well-fed size, and a general air of meanness that practically radiated off of him. Seeing that the supposed bully's right hand was curled up into a fist, the five boys in the fifth grade figured out what was going on.

"Feh, how typical of you, Biff," Argent said in a casual tone to the boy who stood before him, acting defiant towards this supposed bully, "Starting trouble like this just because I unknowingly embarrassed you in front of the class. If you had that much of a problem, then why didn't you try talking things out instead of going straight to violence?"

"Because you're supposed to know better than to make me look dumb in front of everyone, you little snot," the supposed bully, apparently named Biff, said as he pointed an accusing finger at Argent. Biff spoke in a tone that clearly conveyed the message that Biff thought himself to be Argent's superior, as well as the superior of every other kid that he's familiar with at school.

Despite covering what was most likely a black eye, Argent cracked an amused smile. "Technically, no one ever ran that memo by me," the young Ace boy replied, "So I had no way of knowing that. For what it's worth, I'm sorry I gave the correct answer to the question that our teacher asked in class earlier after you gave a wrong answer, even though you volunteered to answer the question first." As the two boys traded dialogue, Lincoln turned to regard his friends.

"Hey guys," Lincoln whispered to his friends, "What's going on here? Who's that kid that talking to Argent?"

"That's Biff Bizowski," Liam whispered back with a hint of fear and worry in his tone, "He's a third grader with a really mean reputation for giving trouble to the other kids in his grade. Even kids in the fourth and fifth grades are wary of Biff."

"That's a third grader?" Lincoln whispered in a shocked tone to Liam while pointing to Biff, "What the heck do they feed him? He looks big enough to pass for a kid in our grade!" As Liam and the others nodded in agreement with what Lincoln said, they were surprised when they heard a vast majority of the kids in the gathered crowd gasp. Turning to see what was going on, the five friends saw that Argent was knocked over, and Biff was on top of him, giving the Ace boy a good few blows to the face, only to be stopped when Mrs. Johnson came running over.

"Alright, break it up!" Mrs. Johnson said in a very firm tone, clapping her hands together quickly and loudly to get Biff's attention. When the large third-grade boy got up and let his victim go, Mrs. Johnson said sternly, "You'll be coming to the principal's office with me, young man. There is no excuse for hitting one of your fellow students like that." Half guilty and half annoyed that he was going to be punished, Biff reluctantly followed the fifth-grade teacher into the school. After the two of them were gone, the students still on the playground started to disperse, although Lincoln and his friends went over to Argent.

"You okay, Argent?" Rusty asked as he helped Argent up. When Rusty did that, Lincoln and the others saw the extent of the damage that was caused by Biff; Argent had bruising around his left eye, there were a few good bruises in various areas of his face, and his glasses were broken. There was also a bit of blood coming out of his nose.

"I'll be fine," Argent replied calmly, "Buffoons like Biff don't know any better."

"Wow, you're taking getting beaten by a bully surprisingly well," Clyde remarked, clearly impressed with the maturity that the younger boy was showing.

"I still say Argent should have let me take a crack at him!" a random male voice called out, prompting the fifth-grade boys to look around in confusion and Argent, who recognized the voice, to sigh in a resigned, knowing tone.

"And _I_ say that you would have gotten into just as much trouble as Biff if you got into a fight with him, Andy," Argent replied to the voice that had just called out. At that prompting, another boy came walking up to the group. A little taller than Argent, indicating that he was slightly older, this boy had scruffy brown hair, wore a red and white jersey with the number 10 in the center, a pair of red sports shorts, white socks and black shoes.

The boy also wore a necklace that had the traditional Thor's hammer charm on it, indicating some interest in Norse mythology. Aside from the necklace the boy wore, Lincoln was put off by the boy's appearance for reasons that escaped him. "Relax, bro," the boy remarked to Argent after coming up to the group, "At most, I would have been given a reduced punishment since I had the excuse of sticking up for you against a bully."

"Who are you, kid?" Liam asked, pointing to the boy who just showed up.

"This is my older brother Andy," Argent explained as he made the introductions, "He's in the fourth grade." Turning to face Andy, Argent continued in a knowing tone, "And he'd look for any excuse to get into a fight."

With a shrug, Andy said, "Oh come on, lil' bro, don't be like that."

"Do you really want to get afterschool detention for the rest of the week _again_?" Argent asked his older brother.

"It would have only been afterschool detention for today only," Andy replied, "Because, like I said, a bully was beating you up, and you're my little brother, so the teachers wouldn't hold it against me too much if I got into a fight with said bully. Allison would have approved."

"I bet," Argent replied in a knowing tone. Turning to face Lincoln and the other fifth-grade boys, Argent said, "Sorry about you guys having to bare witness to this little bit of family drama between my brother and I just now."

With a shrug, Lincoln remarked, "You aren't the only one to have had family drama like this."

With an amused chuckle, Argent replied, "I bet." Turning to face Andy, Argent said, "If you want to do something as a good older brother, then it'd be nice if you saw me over to the nurse's office. I did get hit in the face a few times, and I think my nose is bleeding."

"I'd have liked to have given that jerk a bloody nose myself," Andy said as he took his little brother with him into the school. After the two Ace boys were gone, Lincoln and his friends all turned to regard each other.

"Has that Biff kid always been a problem?" Lincoln asked, "Because I don't seem to recall him prior to my…absence."

Shaking his head gently, Clyde replied, "No, dude. That Biff kid acting like he owns the place is actually something of a recent development. It started at around the time that rumors of Ronnie Anne moving away started to go around." With a shrug, Clyde continued, "My guess is that Biff figured that with Ronnie Anne going away, he'd be able to take her place and make the school his personal stomping grounds."

Shaking his head gently, Lincoln said with a chuckle, "Well I'm not going to be the one to tell that Biff kid that Ronnie Anne isn't going to move."

"She's staying?" Zach asked, a mild hint of fear in his tone.

Nodding once in the affirmative, Lincoln replied, "I heard from my sister while she was talking on the phone to Ronnie Anne's older brother."

"Oh yeah, Lori," Clyde remarked. Giving a love-struck sigh, Clyde continued, "She is one beautiful girl, dude. I'm still available in case Lori's interested."

"Mmm hmm," Lincoln replied casually, knowing that Clyde crushing on his older sister was normal. Rusty was about to say something to Clyde, but the bell rang, indicating the end of recess. Knowing that they had to head back inside, Lincoln and his friends all moved to go to their next class.

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER TWO

Author's notes:

Before anyone says anything, yes, I made Argent and Andy look like that on purpose. It's something of a theme that they and their siblings will be sharing. Speaking of siblings, the Ace siblings are my attempt to introduce supporting characters who'll be helping Lincoln with his recovery from what he went through, as well as supporting the Loud siblings as a whole. Only time will tell how well of a job I'll end up doing with their characters, I suppose.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image

Chapter three: Learning Forgiveness

Lincoln and his younger ex-sisters had just arrived back from their day at Royal Woods Elementary. As Lincoln and the younger girls all had an afterschool snack at the dining room table, Lola began in a conversational tone, "Did you all hear?"

"Hear what, might I ask?" Lisa remarked in her usual dry monotone.

"Biff Bizowski beat up Argent Ace during second recess," Lola explained. With a shudder, the pageant winning princess said, "I'd hate to cross paths with Biff. He's really scary."

"I saw Mrs. Johnson take that Biff kid to Principal Huggins's office," Lincoln stated in a factual tone that had a noticeable lack of emotion. After taking a sip of the soda that he was drinking, Lincoln continued, "So long as the school has staff like Mrs. Johnson and Principal Huggins, we shouldn't have to worry about kids like Biff."

"That's…" Lisa began in a tone that showed she was mildly surprised with what her older brother had said, "…A very good point, Lincoln." As the elementary school-aged Loud children continued their afterschool snack time, they heard the front door open. Normally, they would expect one of the older Loud siblings to walk in, or perhaps Lynn Sr., the patriarch of the family. However, to the surprise of the kids, their grandfather Albert, AKA Pop-Pop, was the one who came in instead.

"Hey there, kids," Albert greeted in a friendly tone, "You all don't mind if I drop in, do you?"

"Pop-Pop!" the younger girls all cheered as they got up, ran over to their grandfather, and swarmed him in a group hug. Lincoln wasn't as quick due to internal emotional conflict; although the sole Loud boy knew that his grandfather played no role in how he was treated prior to running away, how did Lincoln know that Pop-Pop wasn't convinced into joining the others on the 'Lincoln is bad luck' bandwagon? For all Lincoln knew, a certain ex-sister of his managed to convince Pop-Pop that he (Lincoln) was bad luck as easily as she had convinced the rest of the family of the subject.

Lincoln's lack of running up to him had caught Albert's attention. "Come on, Lincoln," Albert said in a gentle tone, "No need to be scared. I ain't gonna bite you."

"S-sorry," the white-haired boy replied as he scratched the back of his head, "It's just…it's just that due to-"

"Oh, hey dad," Rita's voice called out, cutting Lincoln off midsentence as he and everyone else saw Rita walk in. Speaking to her father, Rita continued, "I'm glad that you had the time to come by and talk to Lincoln."

"Wait," Lincoln began in a mildly confused tone, "He came here because of me?"

"Well sure," Albert remarked, getting Lincoln's attention. The younger Loud girls let their grandfather go as he walked over to Lincoln to ruffle the top of his head. "Your parents told me that you may need someone to talk to," Albert continued, then added with a chuckle "You wouldn't mind if it was me, would you?" The white-haired boy looked up to see his maternal grandfather. The kind, gentle tone of Albert's voice, the warm, friendly expression on his face…all of this made Lincoln feel that he could count on his grandfather to not fall for the whole bad luck bit that was being spread around a while ago.

"…Well it _has_ been a while since I last saw you," Lincoln replied. Lincoln's response drew a bark of laughter out of the retired solider.

"Well alright!" Albert remarked in an amused tone. To his daughter, Albert said, "I'm going to be bringing Lincoln with me for an hour or two, Rita. Assuming that's alright with you."

Nodding in agreement, Rita replied, "That'll bring Lincoln home roughly in time for dinner."

"I'll see you in an hour or two, then," Albert said. To his grandson, Albert gestured for him to follow him as he said, "Well come on, my little lookalike, let's get going."

Nodding once in agreement, Lincoln said, "Alright. I'm ready to go when you are." Lincoln left the house with Albert, with the younger sisters and Rita waving them good-bye. Lincoln hopped into the passenger seat of his grandfather's car, then once both white-haired guys were buckled up, the car took off.

* * *

As Albert drove to someplace that he had in mind, he said, "So, Lincoln, your mother told me that you ran away."

"Yeah," Lincoln replied, feeling mildly uncomfortable with the way the conversation was starting.

"…She also told me _why_ you ran away," Albert continued. Sighing, the older man added, "To speak the plain truth, what I heard from her has me disappointed."

"What did she say?" Lincoln asked, sounding somewhat suspicious; if Lincoln's ex-mother had told Pop-Pop the _actual_ truth, then he'd actually be surprised. The white-haired boy wouldn't put it past that woman if she had spun a tall tale that painted her as completely innocent, to avoid as much trouble for herself as possible.

"She told me how she, your father, and pretty much all of your sisters were treating you like you bore a black spot because they all thought you were nothing but bad luck," Albert replied in a resigned tone, "That they made you sleep in the yard because of that reason, and that they even kicked you out of the house because of it." Shaking his head in a manner that conveyed disappointment, Albert continued, "If it wasn't for the fact that she's a grown woman, I probably would have grounded your mother for her part in what happened to you. As it stands, I'm half-tempted to do so anyway."

"… _Huh_ ," Lincoln thought in a tone of genuine surprise as he heard his grandfather's explanation, " _I guess that she_ did _tell Pop_ - _Pop the truth_."

"Your mother…also mentioned something else," Albert went on, "Something that has me concerned." The car came to a stop at a red light, so Albert turned to face his grandson. "She said that you've apparently taken to not referring to her and your father as your parents, and that you aren't referring to the girls as your sisters," Albert said in a concerned tone.

"…Because they aren't my family," Lincoln replied with a sigh, "A while ago, the girls and I overheard Mr. and Mrs. Loud talk about potentially getting of one of us. As it turned out, they were simply talking about Mr. Loud's tie collection."

"Yeesh, don't remind me of that tie collection," Albert remarked in a mildly spooked tone, "That bunny tie still gives me the willies."

After a slight chuckle in response to what his grandfather said, Lincoln continued, "After everything was settled, Mr. and Mrs. Loud said that they would never consider kicking one of their kids out. That being said, since they kicked me out, it's clear that they don't consider me as one of their kids. If I'm not one of their kids, then they aren't my parents, and that, by extension, means that their daughters aren't my sisters."

Sighing, Albert said, "After what they did to you, and how it prompted you to run away, I can't blame you for being so bitter." Giving the steering wheel a slightly tighter grip, Albert said in a concerned tone as he continued to drive when the light turned green, "Am I at least still your grandfather, Lincoln?"

The white-haired boy was shocked with what he heard Pop-Pop say, along with how he sounded when he said it. "…You never had a hand in how I was treated before I was kicked out and I ran away, did you?" Lincoln asked.

"No, and let me tell you that I will never treat you, or any of my family, in such a manner," Albert replied, hit tone sounding with firm determination.

Smiling gently, Lincoln said, "Yeah, you're still my grandfather, Pop-Pop." Looking out the window, Lincoln added, "You're probably the only family I have right now. …Well, you and Aunt Ruth. She didn't have anything to do with that bad luck stuff either, unless I'm wrong."

Albert nodded in agreement as he pulled into the parking lot of someplace that Lincoln wasn't paying attention to right away. As he parked his car and shut the engine off, Albert felt truly awful. How could his little lookalike have become so bitter? What happened to his sweet and fun-loving grandson? The retired solider couldn't remember the last time he shed any tears for any reason other than because he was laughing too hard, but he was actively trying to keep tears from welling up in the corners of his eyes right now.

Finally looking out the window, Lincoln saw that his grandfather had taken him to some sort of restaurant that he didn't recognize. "Odin-Dono's Swedish-Japanese Cuisine?" Lincoln said as he read the name of the restaurant that was written above the double doors that led inside. The white-haired boy thought that the exterior of the establishment resembled a mix of a Viking fort and a Samurai castle.

"It's one of those fusion restaurant places that are so popular here in Royal Woods," Albert explained, "Odin-Dono's is also getting so popular that it's proving to be some serious competition for Giovanni Chang's and especially Aloha Comrade." As Albert locked up his car, he continued, "As a side note, the woman who opened this place with her late husband is the niece of one of my war buddies."

"You don't say, Pop-Pop," Lincoln replied as he followed his grandfather into the newly discovered fusion restaurant, his interest piqued as to what this place had to offer.

* * *

If the exterior of Odin-Dono's was supposed to be an indication of what the interior might look like, then Lincoln felt that the job was done very well. The main room of the restaurant resembled a Viking dining hall, or the large open room of an inn in that one video game were a hero learned the language of dragons. As for the choice of décor, armor and weapons from both great warriors being honored could be seen hanging from or mounted to the wall. A complete suit of Samurai armor was on a stand and placed next to one of the posts that extended from the floor to the high ceiling. As Lincoln and his grandfather walked by that suit of armor, the white-haired boy let out an impressed whistle.

"Have you been here before, Pop-Pop?" Lincoln asked as he looked around at all of the décor that caught his eye.

"A few times," Albert replied with a smile, "Me and my war buddies usually come here to watch sports on the wall-mounted TVs while enjoying the good brew they serve here. The food's pretty good as well." As the two white-haired guys walked, they were hailed by an adult woman who looked to be about the same age as Rita, maybe a year or so younger. She had long blonde hair that was nearly as white as the hair Lincoln and Albert had. Although she was dressed like a tavern wench, Lincoln could tell it was actually something of a uniform for the establishment.

With a confused look on her face, the woman gestured to Lincoln while saying to Albert, "Is this one of your war buddies, Albert? Seems a bit young, does he not?"

"No, no, you got it all wrong, Ashe," Albert replied with a gentle headshake in the negative as he gave a soft chuckle. Patting Lincoln on the shoulder, Albert explained, "This here is my grandson Lincoln." To Lincoln, Albert said, "Lincoln, this is Ashe. Her aunt Sejuani is one of my war buddies."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Ashe," Lincoln greeted as he gave a simple wave of his hand.

With a slight giggle, Ashe replied, "He reminds me of my second-born daughter. In fact, I think that they might be around the same age." Facing Albert specifically, Ashe said, "So Albert, I take it you'll be wanting your usual?"

"Ehh, I'll only get one mug of mead this time," Albert replied, "I'm driving."

Nodding in understanding, Ashe said, "Fair enough. Anywho, I'll have one of the waiters bring you and your grandson some menus once you two find a table to sit down at."

"Thanks," Albert replied as he led Lincoln off to find a table to sit at.

…

About several minutes later, Lincoln and Albert were having lunch; Albert was having some Swedish dish that Lincoln didn't recognize, and Lincoln himself was having some noodle-based dish from Japan called oden that, to a person like Lincoln with limited knowledge on the subject, reminded him of ramen, except that the noodles were different. "…Lincoln," Albert began in a serious tone after taking a swig from his drink, "Are you ever going to forgive your parents and sisters for what they did to you?"

The older man's question made Lincoln take pause for a minute. Sighing, Lincoln said, "I…I'm not sure. I mean, I'm not sure how long it will take me to forgive them. After all, I…" Stopping short, Lincoln shook his head, as if trying to rid his mind of some unpleasant thought. "…It will take us a while before we reach that point," Lincoln said finally.

"You're at least giving them a chance, right?" Albert asked.

"…Did Lori tell you what I did when her boyfriend was asking me about what happened?" Lincoln replied.

The older white-haired man nodded a few times in the affirmative. "Yeah, your sister told me what you did for her back then," Albert replied. Sighing, Albert continued, "Why did you go through all of that trouble, though, if you're still bitter for what Lori and the rest of them did?"

"At the time, I just didn't care enough to try and ruin Lori's relationship with Bobby," Lincoln began to explain, "Also, this may sound weird, but after I passed out on the sidewalk outside of where the Casagrandes live, I was brought inside. When I started coming to, I noticed that someone was holding me, was crying over me. They sounded regretful, upset with what I had been through. I'm not sure why, but that was what convinced me to at least see if forgiving my ex-family was worth a shot."

"I see," Albert replied as he nodded, knowing full well that it was Lori who had held the white-haired boy back then; the oldest Loud sibling _did_ tell her grandfather everything, after all.

"Heh," Lincoln chuckled, "That probably sounds like one of the lamest excuses for anything ever. But…" Lincoln paused, sighed in a resigned tone. "…Maybe I actually _want_ to forgive them for what they did," the white-haired boy continued, "I'm just not sure how to go about doing that, though."

Giving a warm, understanding smile, Albert patted his grandson on the left shoulder. "It's like you said, Lincoln," the white-haired man said warmly, "It'll take you all a while before you all get to that point. It's going to be a team effort between you and your folks. No one's expecting you to give them all a free pass right off the bat. You'd be a saint if you did. Your family is going to have to show you just how regretful they are for what they did to you."

"Yeah, I understand that," Lincoln replied in a tone of agreement.

"However, it's up to you to recognize when your family is trying to show you how sorry they are," Albert continued, "Again, no one's expecting you to forgive them after they show their first demonstration of how sorry they are, but at least try to appreciate anything that they try, alright? Because despite what the past may tell you, your family loves you, Lincoln."

"…Do you?" Lincoln asked.

With a mildly confused look on his face, Albert said, "Excuse me?"

"When you said that my family loves me," Lincoln began to clarify, "Were you including yourself with them?" With a mildly unsure look on his face that looked like it carried a hint of sadness, Lincoln asked, "Do you love me?"

Once again, the retired solider was finding trouble holding back the tears that were threatening to escape from the corners of his eyes. With a small but gentle smile on his face, Albert nodded a few times in the affirmative. "Of course, I do," Albert said, "You're my grandson, Lincoln, and nothing will change that."

Although the look on Lincoln's face as a whole didn't change, the small unsure frown turned to a smile. "Thanks, Pop-Pop," the white-haired boy replied. Lincoln and Albert finished the meal they were having, then after Albert paid for everything, he took Lincoln home.

* * *

That evening at the Loud family residence, Lincoln was laying on his bed in his room, reading a comic book. Although Lincoln was annoyed by the fact that his ex-mother had gotten rid of his furniture while the 'bad luck' nonsense was still at its peak, at least she was able to get everything back. Also, it was only the furniture that Lincoln's ex-mother had gotten rid of; all of Lincoln's other possessions, including clothes, comic books, laptop and various other odds and ends, were all put into plastic storage tubs. Lincoln strongly suspected that his ex-parents were intending to sell some of his stuff at some point.

As Lincoln read, he was going over in his mind what he and his grandfather had talked about while they were at Odin-Dono's earlier. " _At least try to appreciate anything that they try_ , _alright_?" Albert's words echoed in Lincoln's mind. The sole Loud boy hasn't seen any significant show from any of his ex-family for how sorry they-

Lincoln's thought process was cut off when he heard three quick knocks outside his bedroom door on one of the walls in the hallway, followed by his gothic ex-sister Lucy calling out, "Lincoln, are you in?" Curious, Lincoln got up off of his bed and opened his door. When he did, he saw Lucy standing near the door to Lisa and Lily's room, but she was turned to face him. "I wanted to talk to you," Lucy explained when Lincoln opened his door, "But I didn't want to risk making you any more upset than you probably already are by popping in suddenly. So, I stood a few feet away from your bedroom door while knocking on the wall to Lisa and Lily's room and calling out for you."

"…You could have just knocked on my door," Lincoln pointed out.

"I was afraid of letting my unconscious habit take over," Lucy replied. Walking up to Lincoln, Lucy pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to him. "I wrote this while I was hanging out with Haiku earlier," the gothic Loud sibling said, "I wrote it in haiku form after Haiku suggested that I try using the method of writing that shares her name." Curious, Lincoln unfolded the paper and read what was written, and what he saw surprised him;

 _I_ ' _m sorry_ , _Lincoln_

 _Please don_ ' _t hate me anymore_

 _I still love you, bro_

Lincoln could see a few things on the poem that Lucy had handed to him. First off, some of the handwriting seemed a bit shaky, indicating that Lucy had some difficulty in controlling her emotions while writing this. Also, there were a few small circular spots on the paper that seemed to have been wet at one point but have since dried up. Then there were the words of the haiku itself; Lucy was trying to, in her own way, show how sorry she was, and that she still loved her older brother. But the second line of the poem had caught the white-haired boy's attention.

Lucy is clearly under the impression that Lincoln actually _hates_ her.

Looking up from the poem, Lincoln was that Lucy was looking to the floor, as if ashamed, as if she felt scared to look up at the boy whose suffering she contributed to. Lincoln could also see a faint bit of trembling coming from the gothic little girl. Lincoln sighed in a tone that showed he knew what he had to do. "Lucy," Lincoln began, making Lucy jump a bit and prompting her to look up at him.

"Yes, Lincoln?" Lucy replied, sounding just a little bit fearful of what her older brother was going to say.

"I'm…still going to need some time," Lincoln said, making Lucy look down to the floor again, as if her spirits were crushed. However, the gothic girl looked up when she heard what her older brother said next.

"But thank you."

Before Lucy could get another word in, Lincoln went back into his room, closing the door behind him and leaving her in the hallway alone. Lucy desperately wanted to ask Lincoln what he was feeling, but she didn't want to risk upsetting him. He said that he still wanted some time to himself, but he also thanked her for the haiku. Lucy was feeling troubled; was he still upset with her? She wouldn't hold it against him if he was. After all, given her role in his suffering, Lucy felt that Lincoln would be completely justified to hate her.

But he thanked her.

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER THREE

Author's notes:

I'm going to try to begin the part where Lincoln's family shows how sorry they are for what they did. The reason I say _try_ is because I never wrote an arc like this before; this is my first go at such an arc (i.e. writing such material), so please bear with me as I'm learning as I go. Hopefully what I'm intending will be able to get through to you, the readers.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

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Chapter four: Brotherly Instinct

Lincoln Loud's mood began well enough when he arrived at Royal Woods Elementary School the morning after he had lunch with his grandfather Albert, AKA Pop-Pop, at one of the many fusion restaurants located in Royal Woods. Lincoln's well enough mood became better as he was met up by some of his friends, Clyde McBride and Rusty Spokes. The three boys got to talking about the kinds of things they always talked about as they waited for the other two members of their group, Zach and Liam, to show up.

"Did you hear?" Clyde began, getting the attention of his friends that were with him.

Turning to regard his African American friend, Lincoln replied, "Heard what, Clyde?"

"That Astrid girl will be back at school today," Clyde explained, "She's been out sick since sometime last week."

"Man, that girl just can't seem to catch a break, can she?" Rusty remarked, his tone indicating he felt sorry for the girl in question.

"Who again?" Lincoln asked, clearly looking confused. Clyde and Rusty both turned to face their white-haired friend.

"We're talking about Astrid Ace," Rusty clarified, "Don't you remember? I mentioned her to you yesterday when her little brother Argent was talking to us."

"…I still don't know this girl all that much," Lincoln remarked.

"Well that's understandable," Clyde said, "Given that it's a rare occurrence to see her at school. I don't think she showed up all that often during the two months or so you were gone, bro, so you didn't miss much."

"Maybe I'll finally see what Astrid looks like in class later to-" Lincoln began, but he was cut off when a familiar male voice, one he wasn't fond of, cut him off.

"I'm going to have to ask you to keep away from her, Larry," Chandler's familiar voice called out, prompting Lincoln's friends to turn and see the conceited boy himself come walking up to him, accompanied by his two primary friends (using the word 'friends' here _very_ loosely; those boys are more akin to goons than to anything else). Lincoln, not wanting to deal with any of Chandler's crap this early in the school day, didn't bother to turn and face him yet. "I already called dibs on her," Chandler said as he jerked a thumb at his chest.

"Not in the mood right now, Chandler," Lincoln said, his tone already sounding strained.

A look of mild annoyance appeared across Chandler's face since Lincoln wasn't affording him the respect he clearly thought he deserved from everyone. "Hey, what's with not even bothering facing me?" Chandler said in an annoyed tone. Placing his hand on Lincoln's shoulder, Chandler said as he forcefully turned the white-haired boy around, "You will-" Chandler stopped short from finishing, as when Lincoln was turned to face him, he gave Chandler a very angry, very serious glare. A glare that made the conceited boy take pause. A glare that set a very high degree of fear into his heart. Chandler's two goon-friends were likewise afraid as well, even though Lincoln's glare wasn't aimed at either of them.

Gently removing his hand from Lincoln's shoulder, Chandler said somewhat nervously, "H-hey, come on, Larry. I was just playing around."

"…" Lincoln considered the jerk who forcefully grabbed his attention, and could tell that he had, surprisingly, managed to scare Chandler with his glare. Only Ronnie Anne before him was able to make others back off just by giving them a very angry look. "…Just give me some space, Chandler," Lincoln said in a warning tone, "I'm still not in the mood for any of your crud."

"O-okay," Chandler said, the mild hint of fear in his tone still not wavering. The conceited boy turned around and immediately went the other way, his two goon-friends following behind him in quick order. After Chandler and his posse were gone, Clyde and Rusty both turned to face their white-haired friend.

"Dude," Clyde said to Lincoln in a concerned tone, "Are you okay?"

Sighing, Lincoln remarked, "I'm sorry. It's just that I'm not in the mood to deal with anything from Chandler right now."

"I can't fault you for that," Rusty replied, "I mean, he is kind of a jerk. Not to mention how his flirting gives Astrid the creeps."

"If he keeps it up, then get Astrid to tell a teacher," Lincoln said, "Or better yet, Principal Huggins. That should fix things."

"Speaking of teachers," Clyde remarked as he looked at the watch on his wrist, "We ought to get going over to Mrs. Johnson's class."

"Right," Lincoln replied with an agreeing nod as he and Rusty followed Clyde to their first class for the day.

* * *

Lola and her twin sister Lana were walking through one of the hallways on their way to class. However, they were stopped when someone slammed the lockers along the left wall of the hallway, making both Loud twins flinch. Slowly, they turned to see who had stopped them. To their fright, it was a very clearly angry-looking Ronnie Anne.

"Oh, umm, hey there, Ronnie Anne," Lana greeted nervously, "Umm, glad to see that you'll be sticking around here in Royal Woods."

Saying nothing to the tomboyish Loud twin, Ronnie Anne focused primarily on the twin who consistently won pageants. "You, princess," the Hispanic girl began in a tone that was clearly warning against acting up. Pointing to something off to the side, Ronnie Anne continued, "You see that over there?" Both twins turned to see what Ronnie Anne was pointing at; a garbage can that was close to overflowing. Snapping her fingers to get the twins' attention back, Ronnie Anne said to Lola, "If I hear that you step one more toe out of line, I will personally introduce your face to it! Capiche?!"

"Capi…capi…capi…yes?" Lola replied in a stammer, clearly frightened.

"And you!" Ronnie Anne said suddenly as she turned to regard Lana. With the tomboyish Loud twin shaking slightly, Ronnie Anne said, "I better not hear that you're acting like your twin here, got it?!"

"Do I look like I wear sparkly towels and dance on stage?" Lana replied with as much bravado as she was able to manage at the time (it wasn't all that much, given who the twins were talking to).

Ronnie Anne opened her mouth as if to say something, but she stopped short, closed her mouth, then began to consider what Lana had just said. After a few seconds, the Hispanic girl pointed to Lana in a commending manner as she said, "I like that answer." Ronnie Anne then took her leave for the fifth-grade class she had to get to. After Ronnie Anne was gone, Lana turned to face Lola, and saw that she was still shaking mildly out of fright.

"Relax, Lola," Lana said, "Remember what we talked about the night Lincoln came back. Lincoln isn't really holding any more against you than he is towards me or any of our other sisters. He was just put on the spot and was expected to name some names."

"I know," Lola replied, "But that's not why I'm shaking." Taking a breath to steady herself, Lola explained in a sad tone, "I'm just upset that our brother doesn't like us anymore."

"I think it's more along the lines of trust," Lana pointed out, "Trust that we have a shot to earn again. A shot that Lincoln's giving us."

"Mmm," Lola said in a mildly upset tone as she allowed her older twin sister to lead her to their first class for the day.

* * *

Later during first recess, Lincoln was talking with his friends Clyde, Rusty, Liam and Zach. "Hey dude," Liam said to Lincoln, "I noticed during first and third period that whenever he looked your way, Chandler seemed ready to wet himself out of fright." Giving his friend a curious look, Liam asked, "What did you do to Chandler?"

"Nothing," Lincoln replied honestly, "I just told him to give me some space."

"He also gave Chandler a glare more frightening than any that either of my parents had ever given to me when I'm in trouble," Rusty added, "I swear, if looks could kill, then Chandler would have been on his way to the morgue right now!" The group of five friends all proceeded to laugh at the joke Rusty made, although Lincoln found what Rusty said to be especially funny.

It wouldn't have been the _first_ time that the white-haired boy took a life.

As the five friends continued to talk, they started hearing some shouting coming from one area of the playground. As they turned to face the direction the shouting came from, Lincoln and the others saw two things; one, that there was a crowd beginning to circle something, suggesting that a fight was going on, and two, Argent Ace came running up to them, specifically Rusty.

"Hey, Rocky's brother!" Argent said in something of an urgent tone, "Things aren't looking really good right now!"

"What's wrong, Argent?" Rusty asked.

"Biff's trying to assert his dominance again," Argent explained, "Last I checked, he's facing Andy and Rocky two on one!"

"I can understand your brother wanting to face him, since he said so the last time Biff was trying to pick a fight," Rusty began in a concerned tone, "But how did Rocky get involved? Last I remember him telling me, Rocky said that he had no intention of crossing Biff's path."

"I'm guessing that when Rocky saw Biff punch Lucy in the eye, he must have lost his temp-" Argent began, but before he could continue, he was cut off when Lincoln strode forward towards the scene of the fight, a determined look of grim anger on his face. As they watched their friend approach the fight, Clyde, Rusty, Liam and Zach all wore concerned looks.

"We ought to go make sure he doesn't do anything stupid," Rusty remarked as he and the others all followed Lincoln, with Argent following behind them, "I'm also going to want to have a word or two with that Biff kid for what he's doing with my brother."

…

The kids on the playground were all watching as Biff Bizowski was taking on two kids, Andy Ace and Rocky Spokes, at once in a fight. Given Biff's reputation, it wasn't all that surprising that he'd be willing to go into a fight with odds against him. Granted, that little snot Rocky jumped in after Biff punched that creepy weirdo goth girl in the eye, but hey, this just meant that after Biff won, no one would be wanting to question his dominance, his authority.

As the fight went on, Lincoln and his friends managed to force their way through the crowd so they could see the Biff vs. Andy and Rocky fight. Looking around, Lincoln eventually saw what Argent had told him about just a few seconds ago; Lucy, Lincoln's gothic ex-sister, was covering her left eye, covering part of her bangs in the process. It was clear that she had been struck, and judging by the way Lucy was shaking, Lincoln thought that she might start crying.

Crying like she must have been when she wrote that apology poem the previous night.

A poem that told Lincoln that Lucy thought he _hated_ her.

Over at the fight, Biff shoved Andy away by slamming him in the stomach with his foot, and while the ten-year-old Ace boy stumbled back, Biff grabbed Rocky by the front of his shirt. Raising a fist in preparation to strike the younger Spokes boy in the face, Biff said in a taunting tone, "Got anything to say before I rearrange your-"

Biff was cut off when someone put their hand on his right shoulder, then forcefully turned them around. As such, Biff came face-to-face with a very angry-looking Lincoln Loud. The third-grade bully did not recognize the sole Loud boy, but figured that, due to being taller than him, that Lincoln must belong to one of the higher grades, most likely fifth. Smacking Lincoln's hand away with his left hand, Biff said, "Hey, what's the big id-" The third-grade bully was cut off again when Lincoln grabbed him by his left wrist, yanking his left arm to the side and making the third-grade bully yip in surprise.

The sole Loud boy's glare intensified, matching or possibly even exceeding that of the glare that Lincoln had given to Chandler earlier. Due to Lincoln's more intense glare, in combination with the fact that an older and clearly upset kid had him where he wanted him, Biff was starting to get frightened. In a growling tone that clearly sounded angry, Lincoln said to Biff in a demanding tone, "Did you really punch Lucy in the eye?"

Wincing slightly in pain due to how his wrist was being squeezed, Biff said, "W-what's it to-"

"DID YOU PUNCH MY LITTLE SISTER IN THE EYE, YES OR NO?!" Lincoln shouted, the sheer anger radiating off of him making most of the people witnessing the fight take pause.

Biff's eyes widened out of shock as he fully realized what he was dealing with; an older brother that's pissed off over someone striking his little sister. "Th-that was your sister?" Biff practically stammered, his tone clearly showing his fright.

Now Lincoln's anger had reached cataclysmic levels. Even so, Lincoln didn't forget how he wanted to play this out. His brow furrowed even more, the white-haired boy said to Biff, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't tell someone what you did."

"I can give you a reason myself, Mr. Loud," an adult male's voice called out, getting everyone to turn and see Principal Huggins, followed by two school security officers, arriving on the scene. "There's no need for you to tell anyone," Principal Huggins continued, "I'm standing right here." As the two school security officers escorted Biff into the school, with one of the officers remarking how Biff was now in even more trouble than before, Principal Huggins turned to regard Lincoln, along with Andy and Rocky.

"I thought I made it clear during the assembly at the beginning of this school year that roughhousing on school grounds was not allowed," Principal Huggins said to the three boys in a mildly scolding tone.

As the three boys looked to the ground with expressions that were more or less guilty, Principal Huggins looked from boy to boy, then out of the corner of his eye noticed that one of the Loud girls was covering an eye. With that in mind, Principal Huggins returned his attention to the three boys standing in front of him. "…I strongly suggest that the three of you review the school rules section in your respective school agendas," Principal Huggins continued, "And pay special attention to the rule says no roughhousing." Turning around, Principal Huggins said as he walked away, "Try to stay out of trouble, boys."

After the principal was gone, the kids on the playground all started talking amongst themselves.

"Woah," one boy said in a tone of amazement, "The principal just let those guys who fought Biff off with a warning!"

"I never thought I'd see the day where Andy Ace didn't get in trouble for fighting," a second boy could be heard saying.

"Is that goth girl really Loud's little sister?" a girl's voice said aloud.

As the students on the playground talked amongst themselves while dispersing, Lincoln's friends came walking up, having been joined by Argent. "Woohoo!" Andy cheered as he pumped a fist into the air, "Score one for the Ace family!"

With a small but amused smile, Argent said as he crossed his arms over his chest, "You're never going to change, are you, Andy?"

"Hey Rocky, you okay?" Rusty asked.

With a shrug, Rocky replied, "Ehh, this isn't any worse than the times you and I got into fights with each other. I'll be fine." Turing around to face Lucy, Rocky began, "Hey Lu-" The younger Spokes boy stopped short when he saw that Lincoln had brushed aside some of Lucy's bangs so he could take a look at her eye that was hit.

"Yeah," Lincoln said in a tone that would hear no argument from the gothic Loud sibling, "I'm taking you to the nurse's office. We ought to get an ice pack for that bruising." Letting Lucy's bangs back down, Lincoln turned to face the other boys and said, "If you all don't mind, I have a little sister to take to the nurse's office."

"Hey man, don't let us stop you," Clyde remarked as he, Rusty, Liam, Zach, Rocky, Argent and Andy all gave the white-haired boy the clear to take Lucy over to the school's nurse's office.

* * *

Over in the nurse's office, Lincoln was keeping an eye on Lucy, who was covering her injured eye with an ice pack. "Are you going to be okay, Luce?" Lincoln asked, "I mean, you haven't said anything since Principal Huggins had-"

"I thought that you hated me," Lucy said, interrupting Lincoln in the process and making him take pause. "I thought that you hated me for my part in driving you away," Lucy continued, "Not that I can blame you for feeling that way, given what I did was downright unforgivable. So why did you step in with the fight involving Biff? Why did you make him stand down?" Looking down to the floor, Lucy said in an almost sad tone, "…Why did you call-"

Lincoln gently laid a hand on Lucy's left shoulder, cutting her off in the process and getting her to look up at him. In a gentle tone, Lincoln replied, "I don't hate you. I never did. It's just that I'm really upset with that bad luck stunt from a while ago, and it's going to take me a while to forgive the lot of you for it."

"I can see how that will take you a while, Lincoln," Lucy remarked, "I mean, there's quite a lot of people in our family to-"

"Your family, Lucy," Lincoln corrected in a mildly somber tone, "The only family that I'm aware that I have is a grandfather and a grandaunt." As Lucy hung her head in disappointment, Lincoln shifted gears, wearing a small but warm smile, and added as he ruffled the top of Lucy's head, "…And a little sister who likes reading and writing. She also tends to wear a lot of black. Maybe you know her."

Lucy looked up, not believing what she had heard. With her one eye that she was not covering with an ice pack, Lucy looked at Lincoln nodding gently in an affirmative manner. He then gently wrapped his arms around Lucy and gave her a warm hug, a hug that made her feel safe, a hug that let her know that everything was going to be okay.

A hug that told Lucy that she was Lincoln's sister again.

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER FOUR

Author's notes:

…So yeah, Lucy's the first of the Louds that Lincoln forgave. Granted it was kind of a heat-of-the-moment deal that was brought on because Lincoln's instincts as an older brother were triggered upon seeing that Lucy was hit, but I just couldn't think of anything else for how Lincoln would let Lucy into his good graces again. Besides, I was figuring that this would help make it clear that Lincoln does _NOT_ hate any of his relatives, in case some of you were wondering. Anywho, the next chapter should see more development for Lincoln and the rest of the Louds. As a side note, I would have gotten this chapter up a bit sooner, but I was not feeling good at all. I'm better now, though.

…That's right, Lincoln currently like his _AUNT RUTH_ more than most of the rest of his family right now. Let that sink in for a minute.


	5. Chapter 5

Pre-chapter author's note: I saw from some of the reviews on this story that some are worried that I completely forgot about what Lincoln went through during the events of 'Broken Mirror', and that Lincoln having done what he did was never going to come up. I would like to put those worries to rest. Remember what I said about someone going through stuff like that not being able to get out without some sort of baggage? I still firmly believe in that. In fact, Lincoln will, in part, work to overcome his past in this chapter (another part will take place in a future chapter). Anywho, without further ado, here's chapter five.

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image

Chapter five: Haunting Dreams

He was back in one of the many alleyways in the city he ran away to. Lincoln, once again in the guise of Broken Mirror, was chasing down one of the many members of the violent youth gang, aiming to do to them what they have been allowed to do to the innocent citizens of this city. The gang member tripped and fell, landing face-up as their trip made them spin around slightly. As they laid prone, Lincoln jumped onto them. Taking out the butterfly knife that he lifted from a gang hideout he raided a short while ago, Lincoln raised the deadly blade in a reverse grip, then brought it down into the gang member's neck, swiftly and without hesitation.

After yanking the blade out of his target's neck, Lincoln thrusted it into the gang member's torso a few times, not stopping until his victim laid forever still. Lincoln panted hard in exhaustion as he got up from his latest kill. As he regarded the gang member he just killed, Lincoln became confused. From what he remembered, Lincoln thought that all of the gang members were in his general age group (hence the 'youth' part of the violent youth gang), yet this person he just killed was clearly older than late elementary to early middle school. Did the gang somehow managed to recruit a high schooler?

And for that matter, the gang member was wearing a bandanna over their face, covering the lower half of their face entirely. Curious, Lincoln, who wore a face-concealing bandana himself, bent over to remove the bandana from the person he had just slain. After he had removed the bandana, Lincoln saw who he had just killed; the white-haired boy had to cover his mouth, so as to not let out an ear-splitting, horrified scream. Lincoln backed away, step after shaky step, as the butterfly knife slipped out of his hand. The white-haired boy could not believe what he had just done, who he had just killed.

Luna. One of his ex-sisters.

Quickly breathing as if he were hyperventilating, Lincoln could not find it in himself to calm down. Even _with_ what Luna and the rest of the Louds had done to drive him away, Lincoln would _never_ wish any of them dead. And yet here Luna laid on the ground in an alleyway, never to get up again. All of Luna's hopes, all of her dreams, all of her future. All of that was now flowing freely out of the musically inclined Loud sibling as rich, warm crimson that stained her lifeless form, stained the ground in the alleyway on which she laid, stained the hands of her younger brother Lincoln.

The one who had taken her life.

…

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Lincoln screamed as he jolted upward into a sitting position, having practically catapulted awake after the horrific nightmare he just had. He was panting, shaking, struggling to calm down. Lincoln, as his vision adjusted to the darkness of his bedroom, looked as his shaking hands. Hands that, in his nightmare, had killed someone who Lincoln would never want dead, regardless of what she had done to him. Lincoln's head fell forward, his forehead resting in palms that were slick with a very cold sweat. As Lincoln breathed shakily as he tried to steady himself, he started to cry.

Through his crying, he didn't hear his bedroom door open, nor did he hear someone enter his room; Lincoln didn't know he wasn't alone until he felt someone wrap their arms around his panicking form and draw him into a reassuring hug. "Shhhh," Luna said in a reassuring tone as she gently rocked Lincoln as she held him, "No one's going to hurt you, bro. You just had a nightmare is all, little dude." Upon hearing Luna's voice, Lincoln started crying even more, but this time it was out of relief. Luna, not recognizing the change in the tone of Lincoln's crying, simply continued to hug and reassure him.

…

A few minutes after they were all woken up by the sound of Lincoln screaming in fright, the Loud sisters minus Luna watched as Luna herself came walking out of Lincoln's bedroom, closing the door behind her. "The bro just had a really bad dream," Luna said to her sisters in a concerned tone, "He's going to be fine."

"What kind of a nightmare was it?" Lana asked in a concerned tone, "Was it one where mud no longer existed? Or one where frogs were declared illegal? Or one where both mud no longer existed _and_ frogs were declared illegal all at once?!" As Lana looked up with a horrified expression, her twin sister Lola regarded her with a '…really?' kind of expression.

Gently shaking her head, Luna replied, "No, girls." Sighing in a resigned tone, Luna explained, "When Lincoln calmed down enough, he told me about the nightmare that he had. Apparently, Lincoln was chasing down someone in an alleyway, and when he got to them, he jabbed them repeatedly with a knife until they were dead."

"He killed someone in his dream?!" Luan said in a shocked tone, taking a step back.

Luna nodded a few times in the affirmative, not even wanting to tell her sisters the rest of Lincoln's nightmare; she was afraid that some of them would take it as a sign that Lincoln was so upset with them for what they did to him that they were afraid he'd try to kill at least one of them at some point. "I say that we should leave him alone for the rest of the night, then be as warm and welcoming to him when he wakes up tomorrow morning," Luna suggested, "But don't try to crowd the dude."

"Ooh, I hope Linky gets better soon," Leni remarked in a worried tone, "It's totes bad to see him suffering like this." Seeing as how there was nothing left to do in this situation, the girls all went back to their respective bedrooms so that they could go back to bed.

* * *

The following morning over at Royal Woods Elementary School, Lincoln and his friends Rusty and Zach were sitting together in the library, studying at one of the tables. As they went over their schoolwork, they heard a girl's voice call out, "Hey, Lame-o!" Lincoln and his friends looked up from their work and turned to face Ronnie Anne, who was walking up to them with a girl who Lincoln didn't recognize.

The girl that was with Ronnie Anne was roughly the same height as Lincoln, his friends and Ronnie Anne herself, so he assumed that the girl was a fifth grader same as them. She had long white hair, wore a white long-sleeved blouse that had an orange-colored sailor-style collar, an orange ribbon laced through a loop around her neck, a dark blue skirt that reached her knees, a pair of loose socks, and a pair of black slip on shoes. Also, Lincoln could tell just by looking at the girl that she has some sort of Asian heritage.

Jerking a thumb at the girl that was with her, Ronnie Anne said to Lincoln, "Hey Lame-o, she wants to talk to you about something."

"Don't you think referring to him with that name is kind of mean?" the mystery girl said as she turned to face the Hispanic girl.

"It's something between Lame-o and I," Ronnie Anne replied, "No need to worry, Astrid."

"Wait a minute," Lincoln said, "Her name is Astrid? As in that Astrid Ace girl I keep hearing people talking about?"

"Yeah, that would be me," Astrid replied with a nod.

"You know, you look kind of different from your brothers," Zach remarked.

"Yeah, I show a bit more of our family's Japanese heritage than either Andy or Argent," Astrid replied, "And speaking of brothers, that's part of why I'm here." Turning to face Lincoln, Astrid said, "I was told that it was you who made that one bully that's been bothering Argent and his classmates back down. Is that true?"

"Oh, you mean that Biff kid?" Lincoln asked. With a nod, the white-haired boy said, "Yeah, I guess I did make him back down. Although that was mostly because I was inspired into action when your brother told me that Biff had struck my little sister Lucy in the eye."

"That's reasonable," Astrid replied with an understanding nod. With a slight giggle, Astrid continued, "Rusty also told me that you managed to get that Chandler creep to be afraid of you. Is that true as well?"

"All I did was tell Chandler to give me some space," Lincoln said, "I wasn't in any mood to deal with him at the time. I'm still not in the mood to deal with him."

"Same here," Astrid remarked. Gesturing to Lincoln, Astrid continued, "A friend of me and Ronnie Anne's is having a birthday party today after school at the restaurant that my family owns. If you want, you can swing by."

"I don't even have a gift for your friend," Lincoln pointed out dryly, "If I can be given some time before the party, I'd be glad to pick something up for her."

"Meet up with me after school then, Lame-o," Ronnie Anne replied, "I still need to pick something up for Susan myself, and Bobby told me that he'd give me a lift to the mall where I can buy a birthday gift for her. I'm pretty sure I can convince Bobby to let you tag along."

With a slight smile, Lincoln said, "Thanks, Ronnie Anne." After both girls had taken their leave, Lincoln turned to regard Rusty and Zach.

"It still amazes me how you aren't terrified of Ronnie Anne, dude," Rusty remarked, "I mean, I have nightmares about that girl."

"When I heard that Ronnie Anne wasn't moving after all, I immediately went to the local church so I could ask the priest to bless me," Zach stated.

"Guys, relax," Lincoln said as he picked up the book he was studying out of, "Ronnie Anne isn't that bad. You just need to remember not to rile her up is all." As the boys continued their studying, Lincoln thought about how his friends are amazed that he isn't frightened of Ronnie Anne. Although the white-haired boy was, a long time ago, frightened of the Hispanic girl, that had long since passed, especially when Ronnie Anne started acting affectionate towards him. …Well, affectionate in her own way, that is. Yes, the white-haired boy was no longer frightened of the Hispanic girl.

There were _other_ things that frightened him, after all.

* * *

After school that day, Lincoln went with Ronnie Anne and Bobby to the mall so he and Ronnie Anne could both try and find something for Ronnie Anne and Astrid's friend Susan. "Hey, can I ask you something, Ronnie Anne?" Lincoln said as he and the Santiago siblings were in one of the mall's many stores.

"What's up?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Lola and Lana told me you stopped them in the hallway yesterday at school," Lincoln began, "And that you warned slash threatened them against acting up." Giving Ronnie Anne a serious look, Lincoln asked, "Is this true?"

"You said so yourself, Lame-o," Ronnie Anne replied, "That little spoiled brat with the tiara was one of your sisters who made your life a living hell and made you run away!" Lincoln sighed; he remembered that Ronnie Anne was standing right next to Bobby when he was asking Lincoln about why he had run away. So of course, the queen of pain heard Lincoln mention Lola by name when Bobby expected him to name some names.

"I can appreciate that you're looking out for me, Ronnie Anne," Lincoln replied, "But you don't have to go so far as to threaten girls roughly half your age. Besides, Lola's my…" Taking pause, Lincoln considered how he should word what he was about to say; with the exception of Lucy, who he had recently forgiven, Lincoln still doesn't consider any of the girls related to him as his sisters. On the same subject, Lincoln still doesn't consider Lynn Sr. or Rita as his parents, and he likewise won't even acknowledge the family pets. "…Lola's related to me," Lincoln finished, "I can handle her."

"Uhh huh," Ronnie Anne replied, suspicious of why Lincoln hesitated for a bit before finishing.

"That's pretty mature of you, bro," Bobby remarked, "Handling your issues like that on your own. You're really getting to be a man, Lincoln."

"Thanks Bobby," Lincoln replied. When Ronnie Anne turned around to look at a wall of merchandise, Lincoln said to Bobby just loud enough for Ronnie Anne to hear, "So Bobby, you said that you have a picture of Ronnie Anne back when she was five." Upon hearing Lincoln say that, Ronnie Anne stopped her browsing.

"You mean the one where she was dressed up like a princess?" Bobby replied, "Yeah, what about it, dude?"

"I don't suppose you can show me, can you?" Lincoln asked, a hint of mischief in his tone that only Ronnie Anne was able to catch; her older brother was oblivious.

"Can I show you?" Bobby replied in an almost delighted tone, "Heck, I have it in my wallet!" Reaching into his right back pocket, Bobby said, "It'll take me a minute to fish it out, bro."

"Bobby, don't you dare show that picture to Lincoln!" Ronnie Anne nearly exclaimed.

"Oh, come on, Nie-Nie," Bobby replied, "It's an adorable picture! Besides, you saw that one baby picture of the bro a while ago when Lori pulled out a family photo album, so fair is fair."

"ARUGH!" Ronnie Anne cried out in frustrated anger, shaking clenched hands in the air.

* * *

Later, after the two fifth graders got the gifts for the birthday party, Bobby was driving them to the location of the party. Ronnie Anne, her arms crossed, had a very grumpy look on her face. "…Don't you dare tell anyone about what you saw, Lame-o," Ronnie Anne said in a clearly peeved tone.

"Why are you so embarrassed about it?" Lincoln asked, "I mean, Bobby was right about you being adorable back then."

To her surprise, Ronnie Anne found her interest was piqued by Lincoln's admission. "…Are you for real?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Yeah," Lincoln nodded, "I mean, why are you so embarrassed about it?"

"…I wore glasses back then," Ronnie Anne replied. It was true; the picture Bobby had showed a five-year-old Ronnie Anne dressed in a long-sleeved lavender princess dress, holding a wand, and the little Hispanic girl was wearing what looked like horn-rimmed glasses. With a huff, Ronnie Anne continued, "It was embarrassing how I looked with those glasses back then."

"I personally don't see what the big deal is," Lincoln said, "Lisa wears glasses, remember?"

"Yeah Nie-Nie, and Lori used to wear them too, back when she and I were in middle school," Bobby remarked, "A shame I wasn't able to work up the courage tell her that I thought she was cute until around the time we were in high school. I kept getting cold feet."

Lincoln merely nodded in response; he knew full well about how Lori was like back then, during her quote unquote 'awkward phase'. The white-haired boy also fully remembered the day that Lori started showing an active interest in boys, Bobby in particular. It was a day that still pained Lincoln's heart to this day.

The day that Lori stopped being his favorite sister.

"Here we are!" Bobby said suddenly, dragging Lincoln out of his thoughts and prompting both Lincoln and Ronnie Anne to look out the window. When he looked out the window, Lincoln instantly recognized the restaurant that Bobby had taken him and Ronnie Anne to.

"Odin-Dono's Swedish-Japanese Cuisine?" Lincoln said aloud as he recognized the fusion restaurant that his grandfather had taken him to lunch at a few days back.

"Yeah, my friend Aggro's family owns this place," Bobby explained as he, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne got out of the car, "It's a Swedish and Japanese place because Aggro's mom and dad were born in Sweden and Japan respectively before they moved here to the states and met each other."

"Hey Ronnie Anne, your friend Astrid said that her family owns the restaurant that Susan's birthday party was being held at, right?" Lincoln asked.

"Yeah, and this is it," Ronnie Anne replied with a nod in the affirmative as she gestured to Odin-Dono's, "Bobby's friend Aggro is Astrid's older brother."

"Well, we ought to be heading on inside now," Bobby remarked, "We can't keep the birthday girl and her party waiting, can we?" The two fifth graders both nodded in agreement as they followed the Hispanic teen into the fusion restaurant.

* * *

A private room in Odin-Dono's was set up for the birthday party of Ronnie Anne and Astrid's friend Susan. While the girls at the party were all laughing and having a good time, Lincoln was off to the side, talking to Bobby and Aggro. The male Ace teen had fair skin and long pale blonde hair that trailed down his back in a men's ponytail, save for his bangs which he allowed to frame his face.

He wore a long-sleeved light gray shirt (the ends of the sleeves hanging loosely, not clinging tightly, around the wrists) under a seafoam green men's tank top, a pair of light gray cargo pants help up with a belt, a pair of men's sandals and, oddly enough, a sleeveless haori long coat the same color as his men's tank top. Aggro also had a pair of white studio headphones (with black circles on the outside of the earpads) hanging around his neck, the cords from the earpads trailing down until they became a single cord that disappeared into the right front pocket of his pants. Similar to Astrid, Aggro displayed more of the Ace family's Japanese heritage than some of the other Ace siblings.

"So, my younger brother Argent told me that you're the one who made the elementary school's resident bully back down," Aggro began as he regarded the white-haired boy, "And that you didn't even strike the kid."

"Well, after I saw that Biff had punched my little sister Lucy in the eye, I was sorely tempted to do the same to him," Lincoln admitted.

"Hmm, an older brother's prerogative, I suppose," Aggro replied, "I'd be a liar if I didn't admit that I've been in situations exactly like that myself."

"If I hear that anyone's been picking on Ronnie Anne, I'll deal with them personally and right away," Bobby swore. Lincoln suppressed a chuckle after he heard the declaration that Bobby had made; he obviously isn't aware that his little sister can handle any bullies herself. After successfully suppressing the chuckle, Lincoln let out a yawn; although the two teenage boys didn't notice Lincoln suppressing a chuckle, they did notice the white-haired boy's yawning.

"Yo bro, you okay?" Bobby asked Lincoln in a concerned tone, "You look bushed. You didn't get enough sleep last night or something?"

"I…had a very disturbing nightmare," Lincoln admitted with a mildly worried look on his face. Sighing, Lincoln continued, "It's got me spooked."

"I don't suppose you'd care to talk about it?" Aggro asked in a gentle and understanding tone, "Bobby and I may not be certified psychologists, but maybe we can help you through your troubles, Lincoln."

"Yeah," Bobby said in a tone of agreement, "We're bros, and bros stick together."

With a small and sad yet appreciative smile, Lincoln said, "Thanks, but you guys are going to be looking at me weird, not to mention think that I'm slightly creepy."

"We'll see about that," Bobby remarked in something of a dry tone, "You'd be surprised by how eccentric my Grandpa Hector is."

Sighing, Lincoln figured that he might as well get this over with. "Okay, here's how the nightmare began," Lincoln said, "I was chasing down someone through an alleyway. When they tripped and fell, I jumped onto them, pulled out a knife, and stabbed them repeatedly until I had killed them."

Both Bobby and Aggro's eyes widened in shock upon hearing the dream that Lincoln was describing. "After I had killed the person," Lincoln went on, "I saw that they were wearing a bandana over the lower half of their face, so I bent over to remove the bandana." Gulping nervously, Lincoln said, "When I did, I saw that…that the person was one of my sisters."

"That…" Aggro remarked in a mildly troubled tone, "…Is a rather troubling dream." Shaking his head gently, Aggro said, "I've been made aware that you ran away from home sometime ago, along with being given a basic summary of everything around it by Bobby, including how four of your sisters treating you horrifically is the reason that you ran away." With a somewhat serious look on his face, Aggro asked, "Would I be correct in assuming that the sister of yours that you killed in your dream last night is one of the sisters who made you suffer so much that you decided to run away, yes or no?"

Technically, Aggro's guess was accurate, as all of Lincoln's sisters had fallen for the bad luck ruse, thus they treated him like he carried the plague. But Lincoln remembered what he had started back in Bobby's relatives' apartment, so he had to act accordingly. With a gentle shake of his head in the negative, Lincoln said in a mildly upset and scared tone, "No. It was Luna."

"Hmm, Luna, huh?" Aggro remarked as he and Bobby considered what Lincoln had just confessed. After a few seconds, Aggro turned to Bobby and said, "Luna is one of Lori's two sisters that goes to Royal Woods High with us, right?"

"You mean the one who dresses like a punk rocker and likes talking in a British accent sometimes?" Bobby replied, then after Aggro nodded in the affirmative Bobby continued, "Yeah man, that's Luna, alright."

"I see," Aggro said. Turning to regard Lincoln, Aggro remarked, "That is a rather disturbing nightmare, just like you had said."

"What am I going to do?" Lincoln asked, "I mean, I would never do anything like that to any of them, even the ones who worked together to drive me away. And yet in my nightmare I killed one of them, in cold blood." His eyes widening a bit out of being freaked out, Lincoln said, "What if I'm losing my mind? What if I'm turning into a monster?!"

"You aren't a monster, bro," Bobby said, getting Lincoln to look up at him and Aggro. "You aren't a monster," Bobby reiterated, "Nor are you turning into one."

"Bobby is right," Aggro said in a tone of agreement, "You yourself had just said that you would never take the life of one of your sisters, even the ones that had made you suffer. Were you serious when you said that?"

"Of course, I was!" Lincoln replied in an insisting tone.

"And your dream from the previous night has you feeling disturbed," Aggro went on, "Would that be accurate to say, yes or no?"

"Yes, it's perfectly accurate," Lincoln replied.

With a mild smile, Aggro said, "In that case Lincoln, you are by no means a monster. If your dream didn't have you feeling disturbed in any way, then that would be cause for alarm. But your dream did disturb you, making you see things that you would never want to do in real life." With a confident nod, Aggro added, "Bobby is right when he says that you are no monster, nor are you becoming one."

With another appreciative smile that seemed a little bit sad, Lincoln said, "Thanks."

"Hey, no problem, bro," Bobby remarked, "And hey, this lets me pay you back for when you helped me sort through that one nightmare that I had."

Chuckling a bit this time, Lincoln said, "Yeah, Bobby. I don't see Lori ever wanting to break up with you."

"Mmm, you're pretty lucky, Bobby," Aggro remarked, "You managed to somehow find yourself in a relationship, yet I am single."

"It's not like you've ever tried to get a girlfriend, dude," Bobby replied to his Swedish/Japanese friend, "Although with how many girls I hear have been scoping you out at school, I'm surprised you haven't given any of them a shot." With a mildly suspicious look on his face, Bobby asked, "You aren't hoping Lori will dump me for you, are you?"

"Nonsense," Aggro answered, "I have no such interest in Lori. Besides, she's one of the girls on the varsity golf team that's been more or less nagging my twin sister Allison to join them. If I started dating one of those girls, Allison would never let me hear the end of it." With a mildly amused look on his face, Aggro added, "Also, I was kind of hoping that I would get to be your best man if you and Lori tie the knot."

"Bro…" Bobby replied in a genuinely touched tone as tears began to well up in the corners of his eyes, "…dude." The Hispanic teen then threw his arms around his Swedish/Japanese friend to draw him into a bro-hug. As Lincoln watched in mild confusion as the scene unfolded, Ronnie Anne came walking up.

"Hey Lame-o," Ronnie Anne began, "Astrid's mom was able to get some Swedish candy for the party, and that candy is out of this-" The queen of pain stopped short when she saw that her older brother was hugging his best friend. "…Why did my older brother have to be such an overly emotional goof?" Ronnie Anne said in a deadpan tone.

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER FIVE

Author's notes:

…Yeah, it's going to take me some time to introduce all of the people that will be playing some sort of role in helping the Loud siblings in this story, although Aggro is an especially important character in that regard, given what I have planned for him (spoiler alert: Aggro's going to introduce Lincoln to a sport/martial art that will keep him active, something that Rita wanted in that football episode).

Anywho, remember when I said that I had a collection of one-shots that I was working on? Yeah, 'Broken Mirror' actually _isn_ ' _t_ the first Loud House story that I've ever worked on; it's that collection of one-shots. The reason why I haven't gotten them up yet is due to a mix of classes, working on other stories, and other things out of my control. Starting in the next chapter, I'm going to try to adapt the events of those one-shots into this story's setting.

Here's the thing, though; the one-shots play out as if Lincoln _didn_ ' _t_ run away due to the events of NSL.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image

Chapter six: Dates and games

One lovely enough day in Royal Woods, Lola Loud was entertaining a guest at the Loud family's residence. This was not too out of the ordinary, as Lola, who views herself as something of a 'proper lady', likes hosting guests for social visits as she and they enjoy refreshments. What made this particular visit out of the ordinary was that Lola's guest was a boy. In fact, this particular boy is Winston, the boy that the pageant winning Loud sister has a crush on.

After Lola finished recounting an event of some sort to Winston, the blonde-haired boy replied in a good-humored tone, "That's nothing. Why, you should have seen the mess my mother got herself into at the Royal Woods Mall last week."

"Did it happen on Thursday, by any chance?" Lola asked, "Because if it did, then the story that my older sister Leni told me and the rest of my siblings when she got home from the mall that day suddenly makes way more sense."

As the two six-year-olds shared a laugh, Lola's older brother Lincoln came walking by. Although Lola wholeheartedly views Lincoln as her sibling, the feeling wasn't mutual; Lincoln was still feeling strong resentment towards most of his family due to the whole bad luck business that went down a while ago. Granted, Lincoln did have a role in it to some extent, but he only did so because otherwise he wouldn't get any time to himself. It was his family, Lola being among them, who took things way too far.

"Having fun, Lola?" Lincoln asked as he walked over to the fridge to grab a can of cola.

"Oh, Lincoln!" Lola said in a mildly surprised tone, not knowing that Lincoln was even in the room until he had spoken up. "Umm, yeah," Lola continued nervously, "Winston and I were just talking about funny stories related to the Royal Woods Mall."

"Hey, wait a minute," Winston said as he got a look at Lincoln, "Aren't you that white-haired fellow who helped my older sister Samantha out of that jam from a while ago?"

"I help get a lot of girls older than me out of jams all the time," Lincoln replied in a deadpan tone, "So I'm afraid that you're going to have to be a little bit more specific."

"I'm surprised that you don't remember Samantha," Winston began in a mildly curious tone, "After all, she and-" The blonde-haired six-year-old boy was cut off when the front door was opened with such force that it made a sort of banging sound that got the attention of everyone that was currently at the Loud family residence. The banging sound was quickly followed up by the sound of one of the Loud girls crying.

"What's going on?" Lincoln said as he went out to the front area of the house to see what was going on, with Lola and Winston following behind the white-haired boy. Although Lincoln was still upset with most of the Loud girls, that doesn't necessarily mean he wants to hear any of them cry. But anywho, when Lincoln, Lola and Winston arrived in the front area of the house, where the rest of the Loud kids have gathered, they saw that Lynn, wearing a baseball helmet and baseball glove, along with the baseball bat lying on the floor on Lynn's right, had just gotten back from a baseball game. They also saw that it was Lynn who was crying.

"…Lynn's crying after coming back home from a game?" Lincoln muttered to himself in a concerned tone, "What happened?"

Lola must have heard what her older brother said because she made a scoffing sound before saying, "Her team must have lost the game, and you weren't there for her to blame the loss on." With a gentle shake of her head, Lola continued as she crossed her arms over her chest, "She's just being a sore loser."

As the others continued to bare witness to Lynn's breakdown, Rita came walking into the house. "Kids, Lynn's baseball game ended on a really bad note for her, so I think you all should give her some space for the time being," Rita remarked in a concerned tone.

"What, did her team lose or something?" Lori asked in a tone that lacked sympathy; due to recently finding out the extent of what Lynn had done in contributing to Lincoln running away, the oldest Loud sibling was finding great difficulty in finding any sympathy for her sporty younger sister. With a mildly disapproving headshake, Lori continued, "Just because Lynn and her team lost a Hey wait a minute…" Deviating midsentence as she suddenly remembered something about the game that Lynn and her team had played today, Lori began to ask, "Wasn't that the game where Lynn's team played against the team that Francisco belongs t-"

Lori never got to finish that sentence because as soon as she said the name of Lynn's crush, Lynn herself shoulder-rammed Lori in the stomach, sending Lori flying into the sofa where she landed in a sitting position. The sporty Loud then practically leaped over to where her older sister sat, where she grabbed Lori's tank top collar with both hands to yank Lori closer to her face. When Lori's face was within an inch of her own, Lynn said in a tone that sent shivers down Lori's spine, "NEVER…SAY…THAT…NAME…AGAIN." Shoving Lori back into the sofa, Lynn leapt off and ran upstairs crying.

After Lynn had disappeared upstairs, everyone else looked around with shocked and confused expressions. "Umm, I hate to be a bother, but would I be right in guessing that now would be a good time for me to take my leave?" Winston asked in a mildly worried tone that conveyed a degree of feeling uncomfortable with the atmosphere.

"I can ask my mom to call your mom to come pick you up," Lola replied, sounding a bit guilty.

* * *

Later, all of the Loud siblings, minus Lynn who was still upset, were having a sibling meeting in Lori and Leni's room. Sighing in a resigned tone, Lori said, "Alright, everyone, here's the deal. Lynn wasn't crying when she came back home because her team lost. In actuality, Lynn's team literally won their game today."

"Then why was Lynn crying, dude?" Luna asked, her tone clearly conveying that she was worried about Lynn.

With a resigned sigh as she gently rubbed her stomach, Lori said, "As we all know, Lynn's team played against the baseball team that Francisco belongs to today. From what mom told me after Lynn ran to her room crying earlier, Francisco's team was just found out to have committed multiple instances of cheating during the current season, and had in fact tried to cheat during today's game. When the cheating was discovered during today's game, Francisco's team was disqualified, giving Lynn's team the win."

"Wait, what?!" Luan nearly exclaimed.

"Furthermore, when Lynn had asked Francisco about it upon the rampant cheating his team was doing being revealed," Lisa went on, "Lynn learned that, while Francisco himself didn't commit any of the cheating, he knew about what was going on but decided not to say anything about it." With a sigh, Lisa said, "As far as Lynn is concerned, even if you aren't doing any of the cheating yourself, if you don't report any cheating you see in sports, you're just as guilty. That being said, upon finding out that Francisco played such a role, Lynn was heartbroken."

"Wait a minute, _that_ ' _s_ why Lynn was crying earlier?" Lincoln asked in a concerned tone, "Her crush broke her heart?" Despite the concern he was showing for Lynn, Lincoln is still upset with her for her role in driving him away; an argument could be made that out of all of his family members that he's still upset with, Lincoln's the most upset with Lynn. In fact, if Lynn was crying exclusively due to one of her sports teams simply losing a game, then Lincoln might have found some dark amusement out of it. But Lynn wasn't crying because her team lost. She was crying because a boy she had a crush on broke her heart.

Lincoln does _not_ find hearing about one of the Loud girls getting their heart broken by a crush amusing. _AT ALL_. Not now, not ever.

"So, what can we do about it, you guys?" Lana asked, "I mean, from the sounds of things, Lynn isn't going to stop anytime soon."

"The best thing we can do is to give Lynn some space for the time being," Lori stated. With a mildly rattled expression, Lori added as she gently rubbed her stomach again, "A _lot_ of space."

"I sleep in the same room as Lynn," Lucy pointed out.

"Oh shoot, I forgot about that," Lori remarked as she snapped her fingers.

"…Would it help if I mentioned that Clyde, Rusty, Liam, Zach and I have an overnight thing planned at Rusty's tonight?" Lincoln said as he raised a hand.

"What, are you going to offer to let Lucy use your room for the night?" Lori asked in a mildly surprised tone, getting the rest of the girls to all turn to face their white-haired brother.

"Actually, I was thinking about looking into bringing Lucy with me," Lincoln clarified, "I mean, she and Rusty's brother Rocky get along just fine, don't they?"

"Lincoln, that…" Lori began, but she stopped short to gather her thoughts for a second. Smiling gently, Lori continued, "That's literally really sweet of you, Lincoln."

"I'm going to have to call Rusty first to see if he's okay with it, though," Lincoln pointed out, "But yeah, I figured that getting Lucy as far away from her usual roommate right now might be in the best interest of her health."

Snickering a bit, Luan said, "Yeah, I think there are laws against intentionally exposing minors to excessive physical danger." Some of the other Loud girls started chuckling among themselves. As most of the other girls were laughing, Lucy turned to face where Lincoln sat. Although Lincoln didn't see it as he himself was also laughing at what Luan had said, the gothic Loud sibling cracked a small but sincere smile. It seems that her big brother really forgave her after all.

* * *

The following morning at Rusty's place, Lincoln and his friends were all having breakfast in the kitchen area, while Lucy and Rocky were having bowls of cereal in the living room. "Man, I'm glad that you brought your little sister," Zach said with a chuckle as he pointed to Lincoln, "That fake blood of hers was perfect for pulling off that prank!"

"Are you kidding me, Zach?!" Rusty nearly exclaimed, "After what Lincoln's little sister did with Rocky last night, I'm going to have nightmares for weeks!"

"I still can't believe that your dad was so willing to pretend to be a murder victim for Rocky and Lucy's prank on you," Clyde remarked to Rusty.

"Nightmares for weeks," Rusty repeated before he finished off his bowl of cereal. "Meh, I'll get some more," Rusty remarked as he got up. Going over to the counter, Rusty poured some cereal into his bowl and left it there while he retrieved a carton of milk from the fridge. Heading back to where he left his bowl, Rusty opened the milk carton and proceeded to pour.

However, instead of milk pouring out, what appeared to be blood came out of the milk carton instead. Seeing the 'blood', Rusty gasped before he fainted and fell over onto the kitchen floor. As Lincoln and his other friends got up to go help Rusty, the four boys heard chuckling from the kitchen doorway. Turning their attention to see who was standing behind them, Lincoln and the others saw Lucy and Rocky standing there in the kitchen doorway.

"Always works," Rocky chuckled as he and Lucy shared a high-five.

As Clyde, Liam and Zach began to realize what was really going on, Lincoln merely chuckled to himself while trying to figure how to get Lucy on his side for next April Fool's Day, figuring that she'd be an invaluable ally against Luan.

* * *

Later, as Lincoln and Lucy were walking back from the thing at Rusty and Rocky's place, Lincoln said, "Hey Luce, you know how I'm still upset with your sisters, right?"

"That much is obvious, seeing as how you're referring to them as just my sisters, not yours and mine," Lucy replied.

Nodding a few times in agreement, Lincoln said, "Yeah, that's true. But anyway, even though I'm still upset with them, there are some things that I don't like seeing them go through."

"…Like any of them getting their heart broken by a boy they had a crush on?" Lucy asked, realizing where the conversation was going.

Nodding once in the affirmative, Lincoln went on, "I was concerned when I heard that you ended things with Silas over an argument concerning vampires and mummies. Also, I didn't know you worked on perfecting your recipe for fake blood when you're upset like that."

"He didn't have vision like I do," Lucy replied, "Also, Rocky thinks my fake blood is pretty good." Sighing, Lucy continued, "You also remembered how Leni was acting after she got back from that party that Chaz had, right?"

"Yeah," Lincoln said as he shook his head in a manner to convey disappointment, "And here I thought that Leni's crush on Chaz would have been one of the ones to work out." With a resigned sounding sigh, Lincoln continued, "Unlike how-" The white-haired boy was cut off when he and Lucy heard something that caught their attention. Looking over, Lincoln and Lucy saw Lynn standing under a tree, with her baseball helmet sitting on the ground. Lynn was repeatedly bashing the helmet with a baseball bat.

"Stupid baseball!" Lincoln and Lucy could hear Lynn saying angrily as she started causing damage to the baseball helmet, "Stupid cheating! Stupid Francisco!" With more speed and fury, Lynn exclaimed as she broke the baseball helmet to pieces, "STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!" After she had smashed the baseball helmet into oblivion, the sporty Loud sibling breathed hard in exhaustion. As Lynn caught her breath, Lincoln and Lucy came walking over.

"Lynn, what's gotten into you?" Lincoln nearly exclaimed, getting Lynn's attention in the process, "Why would you smash your baseball helmet like that?!"

"L-Lincoln?" Lynn said in a surprised tone, surprised because she didn't think her younger brother would even want to talk to her, and for good reason. Her surprised expression morphing into one that was a mix of resignation and heartbreak, Lynn said, "I…I can't do it anymore. I just can't do baseball."

"You're giving up on one of your sports?" Lucy asked, more than a hint of surprise seeping into her otherwise emotionless monotone.

Nodding her head a few times in bitter confirmation, Lynn continued, "After what happened yesterday, after what…what _he_ did…I just can't do baseball anymore."

"…" Giving his sporty ex-sister a serious look, Lincoln said, "Just so we're clear on the matter, I'm still upset with you for your role in what happened before I ran away."

Sniffling a bit in a knowing manner, Lynn replied guiltily, "I know."

"Even so," Lincoln continued as he gestured to what Lynn was doing, "I'm not upset with you enough to want to see you like this." Giving a gentle headshake, Lincoln continued, "I'll never be that upset with you, or any of the girls for that matter."

"I-is that why you didn't t-tell Bobby the whole story?" Lynn asked, her crying making her stammer a bit, "You d-didn't want Lori to act like how I'm a-acting right now?" What Lynn said make Lincoln take pause; when he first made the decision to withhold certain sensitive information from the Santiagos, Lincoln did so because he just simply didn't care enough to want to see Lori suffer, even though there was a time while he lived as a runaway that he would have thrown Lori to the wolves like that without any regret.

But now…now that he was living with his ex-family again, now that they were all trying to show them how sorry they were for driving him away, now that he had begun the process of trying to forgive them and even having already forgiven Lucy, Lincoln had to wonder what-

"GAHHHH!" Lynn cried out, more out of surprise than anything else, drawing Lincoln out of his thoughts as he and Lucy looked over to the sporty Loud sibling, who turned around. "Huh?" Lynn said as she found a football laying on the ground. Picking the football up, Lynn said, "So this is what hit me in the back." Rolling the football around in her hands, Lynn said, "Huh. I wonder where this-"

"Hey, can I get my football back?" Lynn and her younger siblings heard someone call out, prompting them to look over and see a boy come running over to them. Roughly the same height as Luan, this boy had long and somewhat wild-looking black hair. He wore a light brown long-sleeved shirt (its sleeve ends hung loosely around the wrists, rather than cling tightly to them) under a somewhat baggy t-shirt that resembled the Swedish flag, a loose-fitting pair of cargo pants held up with a belt, and brown boots. Around the boy's neck was a necklace that had three bear claws as charms. The boy was also noticeably, but not excessively, strong of body; that, plus his bear claw necklace and his long and wild black hair gave him the look of a wild warrior from a northern land of snow and cold.

"Hey, are you okay?" the boy asked as he pointed to Lynn, who was holding the football that he was seeking.

Lynn, having gotten a good look at this boy, stood there as if caught in a trance. Seeing that her older sister wasn't moving, Lucy waved a hand in front of Lynn's face. Turning to face the boy that came up to them, Lucy said, "You'll have to forgive my sister. You see, she's going through some rough times right now."

"I notice that she must have been crying," the boy remarked, "I assume that someone did something to upset her a lot?" Lincoln and Lucy then proceeded to explain to the boy what had happened, being careful not to mention Francisco by name, lest they make Lynn even more upset. "I see," the boy replied in an understanding tone, "I don't know a lot about baseball, but I would be of a similar disposition as your sister if something like that occurred on the gridiron."

"Totally!" Lynn suddenly exclaimed, sounding as if she had suddenly gotten over what had made her upset, "In fact, my football team is looking for a new strong safety, and you look like you'd be perfect for the position! What's your name?"

Caught off guard somewhat by Lynn's sudden recovery, the boy replied, "I am Ulfric Aesir. My parents and I just moved here from Sweden."

"Well that certainly explains why I haven't seen you around before," Lynn said with a hint of eagerness in her tone, "Do you go to Royal Woods Middle School?"

"I start tomorrow," Ulfric replied, "Why? Do you go there as well?"

"Totally," Lynn answered as her small smile started to ever-so-slightly grow, "Where should we meet up after classes tomorrow so I can take you over to the football field for practice?"

"How about the library?" Ulfric suggested, "I was told that the library has a book on Norse Mythology, which I'm rather interested in reading."

"Sounds perfect!" Lynn explained, "Anything else?"

Pointing to Lynn, Ulfric said, "I'd like my football back, please." Noticing that she was still holding Ulfric's football, Lynn blushed and chuckled in an embarrassed manner as she handed the football over to Ulfric. "Well then, I suppose I shall be seeing you later," Ulfric remarked, "As I gave you my name, can I get yours before I go?"

"Lynn Loud," replied the sporty Loud sibling.

With something of a small smile, Ulfric replied, "Well then, Lynn Loud, I look forward to throwing the pigskin around with you." Turning around, Ulfric said as he walked off while he raised a hand, "Take care."

After Ulfric was gone, Lincoln said, "Wow, Lynn, looks like finding a potential new member for the football team you belong to helped to get you out of your depression." After a few seconds of not getting a response from Lynn, Lincoln leaned forward slightly and turned his head so that he could see his sister's face.

Recognizing the look of being love-struck on Lynn's face, Lincoln turned to face Lucy and said, "We should tell the others about this when we get back."

"Yeah, they'll be wanting to know about this," Lucy remarked in a tone of agreement.

* * *

Later the following evening at the Loud residence, Lincoln was helping Leni, Luna, Lucy and Lana with setting up the table for dinner. As the five of them got the table ready, they brought up how Lynn had seemingly found a new crush. "He sounds like a solid dude from what you and Lucy have told the rest of us," Luna said to Lincoln as they straightened out the chairs at the table, some of which were seated at somewhat crooked angles.

"Yeah, and from what you said about him not liking cheating in football, I'm certain that he won't go and-" Lana said, but she was cut off midsentence by some knocking that came from the front door.

"I'll get that," Lincoln replied as he left the dining room to go answer the door. When he did, the sole Loud boy was surprised to see Ulfric.

"I apologize if I came at an inconvenient time," Ulfric greeted with a look of mild concern on his face, "But something came up that I wish to ask Lynn about. Is she available right now?" Before Lincoln could answer, Lynn happened to have walked by at the moment. Noticing that Ulfric was at the door, she immediately came over.

"Ulfric! Hey!" Lynn greeted in a friendly tone, "Come on in!"

"Lynn, we're about to have dinner," Lucy said as she, Luna, Lana and Leni came out of the dining room, "He can't stay for long."

"I just had something that I wished to ask Lynn about," Ulfric replied, "I'll keep my business here brief."

"You…you wanted to ask me about something?" Lynn said, a faint but steadily growing blush appearing across her face.

Nodding once in the affirmative, Ulfric began, "Remember how the football we were using earlier during practice wasn't inflated properly?"

Her expression dropping somewhat, Lynn replied, "Oh yeah. The football incident from earlier." Straightening up somewhat, Lynn asked, "What about it?"

"Let's say, in a hypothetical situation, that the football was like that intentionally," Ulfric said, "For the supposed purpose of making it easier to grip. Is this a good thing, yes or no?"

"What?!" Lynn exclaimed in shock, "Of course that's not a good thing! That's a form of cheating!"

"…As I suspected," Ulfric remarked as he looked to the floor, holding his left hand over his chin as he put his right hand on his waist. Looking back up to Lynn, the Swedish boy continued, "Since that's the case, then I'm afraid that some of the members of the football team we belong to are trying to use the apparent method of cheating that I had just described."

"I…I can't believe this," Lynn said as she held a hand to her forehead, "Members of one of the sports teams I belong to are trying to cheat. This can't be real."

"Little dude, what happened exactly?" Luna asked Ulfric. Ulfric then proceeded to explain what had happened; apparently during football practice earlier this day, Ulfric noticed that the football that they were using wasn't properly inflated, so he brought this to the coach's attention. Later, when Ulfric was alone in the boys' locker room, two other boys on the team confronted him about pointing out the football's problem. Apparently, some of the boys on the team were using the improperly inflated football gambit in an attempt to rack up some wins.

Ulfric said that the two boys attempted to 'haze' him as a sort-of welcome to the team (Ulfric confessed he had no idea what 'haze' in that regard meant) via shoving him from behind in the back, but their hazing failed when Ulfric turned to face them; both boys in question were a good few inches shorter than Ulfric, and neither of them were anywhere near as well-conditioned as him (they were thin whereas Ulfric had muscle). Ulfric also mentioned that he was under the implication that the two boys were threatening him into keeping quiet about their gambit with the improperly inflated football.

"As the coach had left prior to the conflict," Ulfric said as he finished his tale, "I decided that informing Lynn in the hopes that we can bring this to the coach's attention tomorrow together was the best course of action."

Sniffling a little bit, Lynn said, "Ulfric."

"Hmm?" Ulfric replied in a tone of mildly piqued interest as he turned to face the sporty Loud sibling. Although she looked like she was going to start crying at any moment, Lynn was smiling, as if someone had just done her a great kindness.

"Thanks," was all that Lynn said.

"…I am confused," Ulfric admitted in a mildly lost tone, "Why are you thanking me?"

"Baseball is kind of spoiled for me at the moment because someone ruined it for me," Lynn explained as she was putting in a bit of effort not to cry, "If it hadn't been for what you did just now, the same would have happened to football. I'm not even sure if I would have been able to stick with sports as a whole if football was ruined for me like baseball was."

With a wry look of mild amusement on his face, Ulfric replied, "Unlike those two boys who I mentioned, you aren't lacking in honor on the gridiron, or honor in general. That's something that I have to respect, Lynn. Well anyway, I'll be taking my leave now. See you tomorrow."

After Ulfric took his leave, Lynn closed the door behind him. "So, sis," Lana remarked with a sly look, "When are you gonna make your move?"

"I don't know!" Lynn exclaimed in embarrassment, which was further highlighted by the blushing on her face. As Lynn blushed, her siblings that were present began to laugh. Lincoln laughed because he thought that the joke Ulfric made about Lynn having honor was pretty funny. Lincoln was still very much upset with Lynn for her role in making him suffer prior to him running away, especially since if it wasn't for Lynn forcing him to go to that one game of hers, then the whole bad luck business wouldn't have happened in the first place.

…But if Bobby can be a good influence on Lori, then who's to say that this Ulfric fellow can't make what he said about Lynn being honorable come true? Shortly after his return to Royal Woods, Lincoln felt that if there was one person in his ex-family that he might not ever be able to forgive, it would have been Lynn.

…But with Ulfric's help, Lincoln may eventually be able to forgive his sporty ex-sister after all.

* * *

The following evening at the Loud residence, Lynn was sitting in the living room with Lincoln, Lori, Luan, Lola and Lisa; normally, the oldest half of the group would have occupied the sofa while the youngest half sat on the floor, but in this case, Lynn gave her seat up to Lincoln, who accepted it with a mildly surprised look on his face that had more than a dash of confusion.

"Hey Lynn, I heard that the football team can't play in the next three games that it was slated to play," Luan remarked, "Are you okay about that?"

"Well of course I'm upset about not being able to play," Lynn replied. After Lynn and Ulfric had brought the cheating on the football team to the coach's attention, the coach did a thorough investigation, discovered that half of the team was in on it while the other half had no idea what was going on, and kicked the cheating half off of the team entirely, even having the two boys that tried to threaten Ulfric suspended.

However, due to the severe cuts to the team, the RWMS football team had to surrender the next three games that they were slated to play, as they needed more time to get and train new players. However, everyone was in agreement that not being able to play with a clean team was better than playing with one that was dirty.

A few seconds after admitting to being upset about not being able to play, Lynn added, "But I would have been even more upset if I did play but I discovered that my team had been cheating."

"So, you're good?" Lori asked in a concerned tone.

With a bit of a chuckle, Lynn said, "Yeah, everyone. I'm goo-" Lynn was cut off when there was a knocking at the door.

"Allow me, my sibling units," Lisa said as she got up and went to answer the door. A few seconds after she did, Lisa called out, "Hey Lynn! Some boy who looks like a barbarian movie reject from the nineteen-eighties is asking for you!"

"Barbarian movie reject?" Ulfric's familiar voice replied, two parts offended and eight parts confused.

"Dang it, Lisa!" Lynn swore as she got up quickly and ran over to the door, seeing Ulfric standing there. "Ulfric, I am so sorry about my little sister here," Lynn said as she not-so-gently shoved Lisa out to the living room. Returning to the front door, Lynn said, "So anyway, what brings you by?"

"Some girl at our school talked to me earlier," Ulfric began, "She told me that since the football team is going to be forced to miss the next couple of games, you would most likely feel upset about it." Holding up a small shopping bag from a foreign food store, Ulfric continued, "As you are the first person who I met since moving here to the states that treated me with kindness, I felt as if I should try to help you feel better. The girl recommended that I get you some chocolate to snack on."

"Did he say chocolate?" Lori said as she quickly came running over with the other sisters who were watching TV with Lynn. Lincoln didn't even bother trying to argue what the girls were doing; they were all chocoholics, so the mere mention of that more desired confection will prompt the girls to all drop what they were doing and rush over. Even though he was still upset with most of the girls, Lincoln wasn't going to hold this against them.

"Umm, it's meant for Lynn," Ulfric replied in a mildly confused tone as he saw the eager looks on the faces of the other girls, "I'm sorry if-" Stopping short upon seeing Luan, Ulfric pointed to her and said, "Hey, you're the girl who gave me the idea about getting chocolate for Lynn to help her feel better."

"Oh, that's my older sister Luan," Lynn said as she gestured to the comedic Loud sibling.

Regarding Lynn's sisters and Lincoln, Ulfric turned to face Lynn. "You certainly belong to a rather large clan, Lynn," remarked the Swedish boy. Hearing Ulfric say this, Lynn could not help but chuckle.

"This is only half of my siblings," Lynn pointed out.

His eyes widening somewhat out of shock due to Lynn's statement, Ulfric merely said in a shocked tone, "…Impressive." This made Lynn laugh even louder and harder.

As the other Loud siblings who were present were watching this, Luan turned to face Lincoln, Lori, Lola and Lisa. Discreetly pointing to Ulfric, Luan said, "That boy's a keeper."

* * *

A few days later on Friday, Lincoln was lying in bed, having gotten rather sick. As the white-haired boy was trying to recover from his sickness, he heard a knocking at his bedroom door. Lincoln weakly called out for whoever it was to enter, and as such Lori came walking in, carrying some medicine and a glass of water for Lincoln. "Hey Lori," Lincoln greeted weakly, his ill voice making his speech sound a little slurred. Slowly trying to get out of bed, Lincoln asked, "Do you need me for something?" Lincoln would have continued trying to get up, but Lori, setting the glass of water and medicine on Lincoln's dresser, walked over to Lincoln and gently pushed down on his right shoulder, forcing him back down.

"What I need you to do is to lay back down and stay there," Lori replied in as gentle of a tone as she had ever used. …Well, Lori sounded similar to this back when she held Lincoln in her arms after he was found passed out on the sidewalk outside of the apartment building slash bodega store where the Santiagos' relatives lived. When Lincoln was back to laying down in bed, Lori said, "Anyway, mom and dad are going to be heading out soon for a date night, so I'm going to be left in charge."

"I'll be down stairs standing at attention with your sisters, then," Lincoln replied as he tried once again to get up out of bed, only for Lori to gently force him back down.

"Yeah, I'm literally going to be excusing you from doing that," the oldest Loud sibling replied in a sympathetic tone, "Lin-"

"Wow, I never would have expected you to go easy on any of us when your parents are out and you're left in charge," Lincoln replied in a bitter tone, interrupting Lori in the process. Despite everything that Lincoln had done to keep Lori's relationship with Bobby stable, despite the kindness that Lori was showing him right now, Lincoln was still upset with the oldest of his ex-siblings. It would take a lot more than simple kindness from Lori before the white-haired boy could forgive her. Realizing what Lincoln was getting at, Lori could not blame him.

Sighing, Lori said, "I know what I usually do is literally bogus, Lincoln. And that's part of why I'm here. I want to try and change things up a bit while I'm in charge. The time back when you and all of the girls took control from me when mom and dad left me in charge got me thinking that there's got to be a better way I can keep everyone from literally going bonkers while still maintaining control."

"And you're telling me this because…" Lincoln replied, expecting to be filled in.

"Because I was hoping you'd have an idea for how I could do that," Lori explained, "You're usually good with coming up with ideas, so I was hoping you'd help me out on this." Lincoln was actually surprised with what Lori was saying; _she_ wanted _his_ help on something? Wow, you don't see that every day. Even so, Lincoln figured that it'd be worth a shot, so he gave some serious consideration to what Lori had asked, trying to think of something that would help the oldest of his ex-sisters keep his other ex-sisters and Lucy occupied. After about half a minute, Lincoln came up with an idea that he thought might work.

"How about a game night?" Lincoln suggested.

"Game night?" Lori repeated in a confused tone.

"Game night," Lincoln repeated, "You and the others can all gather in the living room and play some game together until mom and dad get back."

"But all of the board games we have aren't made with close to eleven people in mind, Lincoln," Lori pointed out, "Also, you know how Lynn gets when it comes to playing." Lincoln had to give Lori credit on that last bit; Lynn was rather notorious for wanting to win all the time. Lynn's football team having to surrender a few games as they tried to build their numbers back up certainly wasn't helping with that at the moment.

"How about truth or dare?" Lincoln suggested, "All you need is an empty glass bottle to spin on the floor. Also, it's not a winning or losing kind of game."

"Hey, that isn't a bad idea at all," Lori replied. Ruffling the top of Lincoln's head lightly, Lori said in a gentle tone, "Thanks, Lincoln." Lori had Lincoln take the medicine she had brought him before she left his room to go find a glass bottle to use for the game.

…

The rest of the night went as smoothly as it could for an eleven-year-old boy who was sick. At one point, when he left his room to go use the bathroom, Lincoln had to hold a hand against the wall to steady himself as he felt a wave of nausea go over him; not one second later, Lincoln threw up. Within short order, Lori came up the stairs to see what had happened.

"Yeesh!" Lori remarked, "Geez, Lincoln, maybe it was a good thing you missed dinner. This mess you made would have been bigger otherwise." Lori then went back downstairs, presumably to look in to gathering the gear needed to clean up Lincoln's puke. It made the white-haired boy feel a little guilty, but all thoughts of that fled Lincoln's mind when Luan appeared, wearing a medical mask and carrying some cleaning supplies.

"Luan?" Lincoln said in a mildly confused tone.

"We all heard you throw up while we were downstairs playing truth or dare," Luan explained, "It was Luna's turn, and the bottle landed on me. I picked dare, and Luna was going to dare me to do something, but that's when we heard you puke." Holding up the cleaning supplies, Luan continued, "Luna decided to dare me to clean up your puke." After Luan finished explaining herself, Lincoln had to snort back a laugh. "What's up?" Luan asked.

"Luna actually dared you to do that?" Lincoln asked, smiling a bit despite his sickness.

Happy that her little brother seemed to be feeling a bit better, along with also finding some humor in the situation as well, Luan replied, "Yeah, I guess it was a pretty good dare." Lincoln then went to the bathroom while Luan cleaned up the puke. When Lincoln came out, Luan was gone, her job finished. Lincoln went back to his room and slept for the rest of the night.

* * *

The following morning, Lincoln was in the kitchen, getting a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Although he was feeling somewhat better, Lincoln was still plenty sick; he was intending on heading straight back up to bed after he ate some breakfast. When Lincoln sat down at the table, Lori walked into the kitchen. "Hey, Lincoln," Lori greeted in a casual, friendly tone, "Are you feeling any better?"

"A little," Lincoln replied in a tired tone, "Although I'm planning on heading back to bed when I'm done eating."

"Fair enough," Lori said as she sat down at the table herself after getting a mug of coffee.

"So, how did the game night with the girls go last night?" Lincoln asked as Lori took a sip of her coffee.

"We actually had quite a lot of fun playing truth or dare," Lori remarked as she sat her mug down, "And we're considering doing it again the next time mom and dad have a date night and leave me in charge. Leni even says she's looking forward to you participating." Reaching forward to ruffle the top of Lincoln's head, Lori said, "Thanks again for suggesting a game night, Lincoln. You really do have something of a knack for plans and ideas."

With a tired smile, Lincoln replied, "You're welcome, Lori." After finishing his bowl of cereal, Lincoln put his dishes in the sink while saying, "So Lori, are there any good highlights from last night's game?"

With an amused smile, Lori began, "Well Lincoln, the first thing is that Leni and Lana both like peanut butter and sauerkraut sandwiches now…"

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER SIX

Author's notes:

Remember when I mentioned the collection of Loud house one-shots that I never got around to getting up? Well the first one-shot from that collection featured Lynn and covered the fact that first crushes seldom ever work out. As sad as it is, not every first relationship has a fairy tale ending, and I felt that it was necessary to remind people of this. However, I did make sure that Lynn had an ultimately happy ending. The first part of this chapter adapts the first one-shot from that collection to this story's setting.

As for the second part of this chapter, where Lincoln is sick and his sisters play truth or dare while their parents are out on a date night, it adapts the events of the third one-shot, which was just my attempt to write a funny but ultimately heartwarming little slice-of-life type blurb, to this story's setting. One-shots number two and four are whole episode flashback-type deals, so I'm not going to bother to try and adapt them to this story's setting.

Ultimately, adapting the first and third one-shots of that collection into this story is helping me with something that I've been wanting to stress here; even though he is still very much upset with most of them, Lincoln would _NOT_ want to see any of the Loud girls suffer emotionally, nor would he want to leave any of them hanging if they're in a serious pinch. Anywho, the next chapter will adapt one-shots number five and six to this story's setting.

…I might have to get that collection of one-shots up at some point anyway, seeing as how it's related to a little pet project of mine.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image

Chapter seven: Steps

Lincoln Loud was working on some homework one day after school. Even with the amount of school he missed due to having run away a while ago, this homework actually provided the white-haired boy with very little challenge, if any at all. Having finished the last of his homework, which was a ten-question bit concerning American history in the early half of the 1940's, Lincoln put all of his stuff into his backpack. As they were also working on their own homework at the table, Lucy and the twins Lola and Lana saw that their older brother had finished before any of them.

"Wow, you certainly breezed through that, Lincoln," Lana remarked.

"I think I recall hearing Lisa say that one of the reasons she seldom ever helps Lincoln with his schoolwork is because she believes that Lincoln's more than capable of doing his work on his own," Lucy said.

"Huh, well I'll be," Lola said, "Lisa admitted that someone in this house other than herself is smart. Who would have guessed?"

"Come on girls, cut her some slack," Lincoln remarked, his tone carrying a very mild amount of sternness that was mixed with a dash of finding some amount of humor in how the younger girls were acting. After he zipped his backpack closed, Lincoln began to say in an attempt to make conversation, "So girls, I don't suppose any of you know why Lori went through all of that trouble to borrow that particular golf club from that Allison girl at her school?"

"Are you talking about Argent's older sister Allison?" Lucy asked as she mentioned her and Rocky's friend Argent Ace, and Argent's relation to a girl named Allison. After Lincoln nodded in the affirmative to answer her question, Lucy replied, "I wasn't paying too much attention since Lori was talking about stuff related to the varsity golf team she belongs to, but I believe that Lori said something about believing that particular golf club to be lucky."

"…Lucky?" Lincoln repeated in a mildly unamused deadpan; due to the reason concerning _why_ Lincoln ran away a while ago, Lincoln was not in the mood to deal with or listen about anything having to do with any sort or amount of luck.

"I personally don't see what the big deal is," Lucy said as she gently shook her head, "From what I saw, it looked like a plain old four-iron golf club with a dark reddish-brown handle. Nothing too fancy or whatever."

"Must be a golf thing," Lana stated, "And since it's a golf thing, I say we should leave it to Lori and dad." With a chuckle, Lana added, "I still think it's kind of funny how Lori's better at golf than dad, even though he was the one who introduced Lori to the game."

"Well then," Lincoln remarked in a neutral yet cool tone, "If that's the case, then Mr. Loud needs to improve his game." Hearing their older brother refer to their dad as 'Mr. Loud', rather than as his and their dad, made the three younger girls sitting at the table feel regret. Even Lucy, the only one of the family that had been forgiven so far, still felt guilt for her contribution to Lincoln's suffering that resulting in him running away.

"…Lincoln," Lola began, her tone clearly conveying a mix of nervousness and regret, "I know that-" Lola was cut off when a phone on the table started ringing, indicating that a call was coming in. This caught the attention of Lincoln, Lucy and the twins, especially considering who's phone it was; Lori's.

"Nobody move," Lana said, "We go anywhere near that, and Lori will turn all of us into human pre-" Lana was cut off when, to her shock and the shock of Lola and Lucy, Lincoln grabbed Lori's phone and got up from the table.

"I'm going to bring this to her," Lincoln remarked.

"No, don't!" Lola nearly exclaimed, clearly fearing for her older brother's safety.

"Lola's right, bro," Lana said, "Lori will destroy you if she sees you with her phone!"

"Feh," Lincoln scoffed as he turned to head out of the dining room area. His tone sounding with determined resolve mixed with a hint of bitterness, Lincoln said, "I'd like to see her try."

* * *

Lori was laying on her bed in her and Leni's room. The previous Saturday, she and the RWHS varsity golf team played against the varsity golf team of a rival school. Lori's team won the game rather handily, especially since Lori played a flawless game, scoring only holes-in-one. Furthermore, whenever Lori was up to hit the golf ball, she only used a four-iron golf club that she borrowed from Allison Ace, a fellow RWHS student who Lori and her friends on the golf team have been trying to recruit for quite some time, due to Allison always playing flawlessly whenever she can be convinced to join them for a round.

Lori, after having played her first ever perfect game of golf that day, was suspecting that Allison's golf club might have some sort of special property after all. As the oldest Loud sibling contemplated this idea, there was a knock at the door. "Who is it?" Lori asked.

"It's me," Lincoln's voice called out from behind the door. About one second later, the door opened, revealing Lincoln, who was holding Lori's ringing smartphone. "You left this on the table," Lincoln said in the neutral yet cool tone he's taken to using recently, "It went off while I was finishing up the last of my homework, so I figured that I'd bring it to you."

"Lincoln, I-" Lori began in a tone that clearly conveyed that she wasn't happy that one of her siblings was touching one of her belongings without her permission, but the oldest Loud sibling stopped herself short. Due to her part in driving Lincoln away in the first place, Lori was already on thin ice with her little brother. It was a miracle that, when Bobby questioned Lincoln about why he ran away, Lincoln withheld any and all information that might have prompted Bobby to break up with Lori.

A miracle that Lincoln might very well revoke if he's given a sufficient reason.

Catching herself before she blew her lid at Lincoln, Lori took a breath to steady herself, lest she do something that might come back to bite her in the butt later. "Thank you, Lincoln," Lori said in a gentle and appreciative tone as she held her hand out to receive her smartphone, "I literally have to put it back on its charger soon anyway. I'll do so when I'm done with the call."

"You might want to also consider adding apologizing to the girls to your to-do list," Lincoln added in a knowing tone as he handed Lori's smartphone over.

A confused and mildly curious look on her face, Lori said, "Apologize?"

"Lucy and the twins were sitting with me at the table when your phone went off, given that they were doing their own homework as well," Lincoln explained, "The instant it went off, they all got nervous. Lana is even afraid that you'll inflict grievous bodily harm onto her just because she was near your phone when it went off."

"…Oh," Lori remarked, her subdued tone resonating with guilt, "Umm…can you tell the girls that I'd like to talk to them when I'm done with my call? And by the girls I mean all nine of them, not just Lucy and the twins."

Giving Lori a mildly confused look, Lincoln said, "Uhh, sure."

"I'm also going to want to talk with you later," Lori added in the same tone she was using as she answered her call, "Until then, could you please let me take this call?"

"…Alright," Lincoln replied, respecting Lori's request to take the call. Lincoln took his leave, closing the door behind him and leaving Lori alone.

…

As it turned out, it was Allison who had called Lori, and after the two girls talked for a bit, they said they would see each other later before Lori hung up. Setting her smartphone in its charger, Lori laid out on her bed and just looked up at the ceiling. The oldest Loud sibling was going over in her head how she nearly blew her lid at Lincoln earlier.

She was also going over what Lincoln said in regards to some of the youngest of the Loud girls freaking out due to being in close proximity of Lori's phone when it went off, especially what he said concerning Lana's fears.

The tomboyish Loud twin already has something of a problem with nightmares, something that Lori knows full well since Lana, upon waking from a nightmare, would seek Lori out for comfort, to tell her about the nightmare she had in hopes Lori would help make her feel better. But if what Lincoln said was true, then Lana may stop seeking her out upon waking from nightmares, because Lori herself would _be_ one of Lana's nightmares.

It was a sobering thought for the oldest Loud sibling.

And it wasn't just Lana who had reason to fear her, Lori realized. Due to how she acted in the past, Lori had every reason to believe that _all_ of her siblings might be afraid of her. She certainly hadn't given them any reason to think otherwise for the past…pfft, must have been _years_ at this point. Years since Lori first became the kind of girl that she is today, years since the day that she ceased to be that nerdy, awkward loser in her tween years.

Still, Lori knew what she had to do. It would be very awkward, and no doubt that some of her siblings will call her out on being so damn late to the act. But it was, as far as Lori could tell, as good of a step in the right direction as she was going to get.

* * *

"I'm sorry."

The ten youngest of the Loud kids looked at the eleventh and oldest member of their number as she stood in front of all of them, her head bowed in an apologetic display. None of the girls, from Leni to Lily, could make heads or tails of what Lori was doing. Lincoln, the sole boy among the group, had his interest piqued by what Lori was doing, so he wanted to see where this was going.

"You're sorry?" Luan asked, a confused look on her face, "What are you sorry for?"

"Everything," Lori said in a resigned, regretful tone, "Everything I did for the past few years. All of the yelling at you, all of the threats, all of the using my status as oldest to get what I want, just all of it." The other girls all exchanged looks with each other, while Lincoln himself was finding this sudden turn of events to be rather surprising. Lori's apologizing for _everything_?

"Does this include when you beat me with a loaf of bread when I thought there wasn't any left and I told you as such?" Lynn asked, an eyebrow arched in suspicion.

"And when you blamed me for taking your lipstick when it was really Lucy who was trying to impress Rocky?" Lola asked, her tone similar to that of Lynn's.

"And how you sabotaged Leni's latest attempt to get her driver's license?" Lucy added, her tone sounding rather accusing.

"Wait, how did you find that out?" Lincoln asked suddenly, looking over to his gothic little sister as he was surprised to hear her say that.

"I have my sources," Lucy replied. Turning back to face Lori, Lucy asked, "But seriously. Are you also sorry for that?"

"And for kicking me out of your first party?" Luan asked.

"And for still not getting me that dress?" Leni added.

"And for-" Luna began, but she was cut off before she could finish.

"YES!" Lori exclaimed, tears streaming down the sides of her face, catching her siblings by surprise and making them lean back, as if they were all hit by a great force of wind that was pushing them back. "I'm sorry for everything!" Lori continued, "For trying to keep driving privileges to myself, for the human pretzel threats, for being way too hard about no one going into my room!" Lori fell to her knees and covered her face with her hands as she started to cry. "I'm just sorry!" Lori sobbed.

If the other Loud kids were surprised by Lori suddenly apologizing for how mean she was to them for the past few years, then they were blown out of the water entirely by Lori breaking down and crying in front of them. Even so, however, some of the girls weren't too quick to let Lori off the hook.

"Well given a lot of what you've done," Luan began in a mildly bitter tone, "I don't think that-" Luan was interrupted when she, Lori and the other Loud girls all heard someone clap in applause. Turning their heads in the appropriate direction, the girls saw that it was Lincoln who was applauding.

"This is a step in the right direction, Lori," Lincoln remarked, his tone suggesting that he felt proud, "Granted, this on its own won't be enough to make up for _everything_ , but it's as good of a start as you can make. Bravo." The girls aside from Lori were forced to take pause; some of them, especially the more belligerent ones, were ready to tear Lori a new one for her past actions against them. But since Lincoln, who arguably has the most reason to be upset with Lori, was applauding her, the other girls couldn't continue with what they had planned.

After the girls aside from Lori all said things that went along the lines of 'try to be careful next time', the group dispersed throughout the house. As he went up the stairs, Lincoln was met up by Lola, Lana, Lucy and Lisa. "You seriously gave Lori a thumbs-up for that?" Lola asked.

"I could tell she was being sincere," Lincoln replied, "I believe that we ought to give Lori a chance to prove that she's sorry for how she's acted."

"Does that mean you're forgiving Lori?" Lana asked, a curious look on her face.

"Heh," Lincoln chuckled a bit, "Sorry, but that's a no, Lana. I did say that Lori's apology on its own wouldn't be enough to make up for _everything_." Turning around, Lincoln proceeded to head up the stairs, but he paused after getting a few steps away from the younger girls.

"…It's still a good start, though," Lincoln added before he continued on his way.

* * *

A few days later, Lincoln and the Loud girls who attend RWES got home after a day at school. As some of them were taking their backpacks off, Lola noticed that Lisa hadn't immediately rushed up to her and Lily's room, as she was normally known to do after arriving straight home. "Don't you have some sort of science stuff to do in your room, Lisa?" Lola asked as she regarded her brainy younger sister.

"I do indeed have an experiment or two that I'm aiming to work on, but that's beside the point," Lisa replied as she sat her backpack down, opened it, and pulled out a yearbook. Flipping through the pages, Lisa eventually came to what she wanted to find. "Aha, here we go," Lisa said. Looking up from her yearbook to her older siblings, Lisa asked, "Are any of you familiar with a Hugo Ashveil, who attends the same school as us?"

"I'm familiar with him," Lincoln replied, "Shortly before my…extended absence…I saw Ronnie Anne stop a second-grade boy from picking on a boy in Kindergarten. The boy that Ronnie Anne saved from bullying was Hugo." Giving his brainy ex-sister a curious look, Lincoln asked, "Why do you ask, Lisa? Isn't Hugo in your class? You ought to know him more than any of us."

"Logically, that would be correct to assume," Lisa stated, "However, from what Darcy told me, that Hugo fellow…doesn't leave much of an impression on anyone. Basically, people often have trouble telling that Hugo's even there."

"Like how we occasionally have trouble telling if Lucy's here or not?" Lana asked as she raised a hand.

"Oh ha, ha," Lucy replied, her usual emotionless monotone carrying a hint of annoyance.

"That's…not the point I was trying to make, Lana," Lisa continued, "This Hugo boy is not only invisible to pretty much everyone at school, but he seems to like things being that way, seems to like not having friends." Her face showing more than a hint of concern, the brainy Loud sibling said, "Hugo…reminds me of how I used to be a while ago, and it concerns me."

Lisa's older siblings couldn't believe what they were hearing out of her. Lisa, their stoic, near-immoral scientist of a sister, was not only sympathizing with someone in her class that she hardly knew, but she wanted to help said person? With seemingly nothing for her to gain out of this? The twins and Lucy could only stare blankly at their four-year-old little sister, unable to properly form coherent thoughts. Lincoln, the sole boy among their number, was a different matter however.

At first, at the absolute bare beginning of Lisa confessing how she felt concern for that random boy in her class, Lincoln was just a little ticked off. Lisa was showing this level of concern for someone she hardly even knew, yet back when the bad luck nonsense was going on, she sided with the other girls within quick order; from this, Lincoln drew the conclusion that, as far as Lisa was concerned, her own older brother had a lower priority than a complete and total stranger. Some genius she was. Lincoln was just about to make a statement about this to the supposed genius four-year-old, but Lincoln stopped himself short when he realized something.

Lisa, as smart as she was, is _still_ just a four-year-old child. Kids that age are still trying to learn all the odds and ends about what's right and what's wrong. That being said, Lincoln supposed that Lisa falling for the whole bad luck nonsense from a while ago might, to a certain extent mind you, be excusable. Besides, with this display of empathy that she was showing, Lisa was also showing that she's growing up, that she was staring to _learn_ about all of those odds and ends. There's something about seeing some of the very little people (i.e. young kids) in your family growing up that makes one's heart swell with pride.

With a small but gentle smile, Lincoln walked up to Lisa, knelt down, and gently laid a hand on her shoulder. "I'm glad to see that you're growing up, Lisa," the white-haired boy remarked, "Showing this level of empathy for others proves that you're maturing more as a person." With a nod, Lincoln said, "Glad I was around to see it happen."

"Umm…thanks," Lisa replied, taken back a bit by the words of praise from her older brother. Words of praise that made her feel a bit guilty for her part in driving said older brother to the point of running away a while ago. The brainy Loud sibling wished that she had this level of empathy that Lincoln said she was showing, along with the appropriate level of foresight, to tell that what she and her sister units were doing would have the results that they were having. "Umm, Lincoln," Lisa began, "Can I also take some time here to-"

"You're concerned about this Hugo boy, right?" Lincoln asked, interrupting Lisa in the process. Standing up, Lincoln continued, "Then you, and maybe your friend Darcy if she's up to it, should try to invite Hugo to hang out. Hanging around with others who he can trust should do wonders with helping him break out of his shell." Lisa was a bit disappointed that she wasn't able to apologize, to act on the epiphany that she just had concerning how she contributed to her older brother's past suffering. But still, if Lincoln himself was encouraging her to go through with trying to reach out to Hugo Ashveil, Lisa could not help but wonder…was Lincoln easing up on her for her part in driving him away? The brainy Loud sibling knew full well that this on its own wasn't going to be enough to be forgiven entirely for her role in Lincoln running away.

But, as it was with Lori's apologetic display a few days ago, was it a step in the right direction?

"Seriously, Lisa," Lincoln continued, "I think that you should go for it. Extend an olive branch to Hugo the next time you see him."

"Why should Lisa give that Hugo kid an olive branch, Lincoln?" Lola asked.

"He was using a metaphor, sis," Lana explained in something of an unamused monotone, and with a matching expression.

* * *

The following day at RWES, during recess, Lincoln was hanging out with Clyde and Rusty; Liam and Zach were caught up doing something else. "So, dudes, it's like I was saying," Rusty began as he talked to his friends, "If you want to get a girl to like you, then you have to-"

"LINCOLN!" a panicked younger girl's voice cried out; within a few seconds, Lincoln and his friends saw Lola come running up to them. "Lincoln, three fifth-grade boys are fighting Lana three-on-one!" Lola cried.

"WHAT?!" Lincoln exclaimed, clearly alarmed.

Nodding a few times, Lola continued, "Yeah. Those three fifth-grade boys were picking on some Kindergartener, but Lana stepped in and told them to buzz off, and they got angry at her, and now they're fighting her!"

"Yeah, you stay here," Lincoln instructed Lola; despite still not referring to either of the twins as his sisters, Lincoln would still not stand by while one of them gets beaten by three boys in his grade. Lincoln proceeded to head off in the direction that he and his friends saw Lola come running from, with Clyde and Rusty following him. Within short order, the three boys came to a scene that was happening on the playground.

"Hey, Lana!" Lincoln called out, his tone showing he was ready to confront the older boys picking on the tomboyish Loud twin, "Are…you…huh?" Lincoln trailed off, and his tone changed to one of complete bafflement, as he saw the result of the fight where Lana took on three fifth-grade boys; Lana was standing there, a slight bruise on the side of her face but nothing more beyond that, dusting off her hands as Chandler and two of his goon-friends laid on the ground behind her, all clearly beaten, unable to take anymore punishment.

Looking up, Lana said, "Oh, hey, Lincoln." Jerking a thumb over her shoulder, Lana said, "Yeah, these three jerks were being jerks, so I set them straight." Lincoln, Clyde and Rusty once again looked to where Chandler and his two goon-friends laid on the ground in defeat, then looked back to Lana.

"Lola…told me that they were trying to bully a Kindergartener," Lincoln began, his tone showing that he was surprised by what had happened and that it was leaving him confused, "Is that true?"

"Oh yeah," Lana replied, "It was some boy I didn't recognize, and he ran off to the school building as soon as I started giving these three jerks a lesson. I think that-"

"Hey Lana!" Lisa's familiar voice called out, prompting Lincoln, Lana, Clyde and Rusty to turn and see Lisa come running up, accompanied by her friend Darcy Helmandollar. "Lana, what is going on here?" Lisa asked.

"It's like I told Lincoln just now, these three jerks were being jerks, so I set them straight," Lana replied as she jerked a thumb over her shoulder again. Looking over slightly, Lisa saw where Chandler and his two goon-friends were laying on the ground, with at least one of them just starting to pick themselves up.

Turning back to her older sister, Lisa said in a tone of disbelief, "You beat up three boys that are in the fifth grade…by yourself."

"Hey Lisa, I'm just as surprised as you are," Lincoln remarked with a shrug, "Maybe all of that alligator wrestling is paying off for Lana."

"Your older sister wrestles alligators?" Darcy said to Lisa, then added in a concerned tone, "She doesn't wrestle cats, does she? Because I can't stand the idea of cats being hurt."

"Cats are nowhere near enough of a challenge for me," Lana remarked to Lisa's friend, "Don't worry, kid." After gently rubbing the slight bruise on her face, Lana said, "Well anywho, those three guys were bullying some Kindergarten boy, so I decided to step in." Pointing to the school building, Lana said to Lisa and Darcy, "I saw the Kindergartener run into the school crying if you're interested in trying to follow him."

"I suppose checking on him would be logical, given the circumstances," Lisa replied. Turning to face Darcy, Lisa said, "I'm afraid that Hugo is going to have to wait. We have a bullied student in our class to check up on." Darcy nodded in agreement with Lisa before the two of them ran to the school building to try and find their bullied classmate. After the two Kindergartener girls had disappeared into the school building, Lincoln and his friends turned back to face Lana.

Seeing the confused looks that she was getting from her older brother and his friends, Lana asked, "What's up?" In response to Lana's question, Lincoln, Clyde and Rusty clapped in applause, praising the tomboyish Loud twin. Lana only became more confused, however.

* * *

A few days later, Lincoln and the younger Loud girls got back from a day at RWES. As they were enjoying some after school snacks, Lisa regaled them with what she and Darcy had been up to. As it turned out, it was that Hugo boy who was being bullied; Lisa and Darcy's teacher advised the two girls to give Hugo a bit of time to himself, but she also encouraged the two girls to continue trying to reach out to Hugo the next day, due to how shy he was. As it currently stands, Lisa and Darcy had successfully reached out to Hugo, helped to break him out of his shell, and can now count him as a good friend.

As Lisa continued with a story about how she, Darcy and Hugo teamed up for a group project, the other elementary school-aged Loud girls listened on while Lincoln merely nodded in a manner that conveyed that he approved of Lisa's developing into a more mature human being. Granted, Lincoln still felt a little bitter about what went down back when the bad luck nonsense was going down, and how it compelled him to run away. He also still felt some resentment towards Lisa for her role in driving him to the point that he ran away.

…But Lisa is still just a four-year-old, so _some_ leniency could be shown towards her. And Lincoln did feel guilty about throwing Lisa, along with Lola and Luan, under the bus when Bobby asked him what happened. Lisa's maturing as a person, on its own, was not going to be enough to earn her Lincoln's forgiveness.

But, similar to Lori's apologetic display from shortly after the game that her varsity golf team won, it was a step in the right direction.

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER SEVEN

Author's notes:

Lincoln knows full well that his (supposed) family are sorry for what they did, and that they want to make up for it. However, it will take more than just _one_ instance/display of apology/regret from a particular member of the family before Lincoln forgives that particular person, given what the family as a whole did to him, combined with all that he went through while he was living as a runaway. Even so, Lincoln can appreciate when one of them is trying to show regret, trying to make things right with him. One thing on its own won't be enough, but it _is_ a step in the right direction. So even though Lincoln technically hasn't forgiven either of them yet, Lori and Lisa are both on the right track.

Also, I think that _some_ leniency could be shown towards Lisa because, as smart as she is, she's still just a four-year-old child, and kids that age are still learning about what's right and what's wrong. Going along that logic, I think that even more leniency should be shown towards Lily due to her being a baby. In fact, unless I can come up with a proper way for Lily to earn Lincoln's forgiveness, I'm thinking about having Lincoln just forgive Lily, on the basis that she's still a baby, thus she simply doesn't know any better. Also, Lily's status as a baby means she doesn't have a whole lot of autonomy, what with how people usually handle her rather than let her be on her own. One could even make the argument that any blame that Lily would get for what happened to Lincoln could be shifted to Rita, who would logically handle Lily a lot due to being Lily's mom, or either Luna or Leni, who from what my research told me handles Lily the most out of all of the other Loud girls.

The original one-shots that this chapter is based on are more from the point of view of Lori and Lisa respectively; in fact, Lincoln hardly has any presence in either of them. However, since 'Restored Image' focuses a _lot_ more on Lincoln, his presence is heavily expanded here. Anywho, the next chapter will see some of the Loud girls make a more active attempt to atone for what they did to their only brother.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image

Chapter eight: Sweet Sisters

Lincoln Loud had just gotten dressed after waking up in his bedroom, which was actually a (formerly boarded-up) converted linin closet. After stretching a bit while yawning, Lincoln opened the door, walked out of his room, closed the door behind him, then proceeded to head down to the ground floor of the Loud family residence. After making a turn, Lincoln went into the dining room area. Upon entering, Lincoln saw the twins Lola and Lana, along with Lucy, sitting at the table eating breakfast. Over in the kitchen, Lincoln's ex-mother Rita was preparing something, probably breakfast for herself or other residents of the house.

"Morning," Lincoln greeted in a neutral tone as he took a seat at the table.

"Oh, good morning, Lincoln," Lana greeted, her tone sounding with a bit of trepidation as she was worried about upsetting her older brother.

"So," Lola began in a mildly unsure tone, "Umm…Do you have any plans for today?"

Lincoln shot Lola a wry look, three parts confused and seven parts curious that his younger ex-sister was trying to spark a conversation with him. He supposed that Lola was just trying to be cordial. "…Well given that schools in the Royal Woods area have today off due to some sort of teacher's protest, I was planning on seeing if any of my friends were available to hang out," the white-haired boy replied. Lincoln's tone was neutral yet cool, which had become something of a staple for Lincoln as of late. However, the coolness of his tone has simmered down a bit.

"Oh yeah, we have today off of school," Lana remarked, "I completely forgot about that." Turning to face Lola specifically, Lana asked, "Hey Lola, you wanna come with me to find some mud to play in?"

"No," Lola replied flatly, "Although I was considering heading to the park to play, provided that mom says it's okay."

"Heh," Lincoln chuckled casually, "Sounds like you two are going to have some fun today." The Loud twins turned to face their older brother after hearing him speak, then they turned to face each other. Both Lola and Lana wore resigned, upset looks on their faces that clearly conveyed that they were disappointed in themselves.

The twins, as well as the other sisters aside from Lucy, were still wracking their brains trying to come up with ways to make things right with the sole Loud boy. Lori and Lisa especially, since Lincoln had admitted that they're on the right track to making things right (which they took to mean that one more thing, maybe two, might be enough to finally be forgiven by Lincoln). The twins proceeded to turn their attention back to their bowls of cereal, hoping to finish breakfast before they headed out to go play.

The looks on the faces of the twins did not go by Lincoln unnoticed. As he sipped his glass of juice, the sole Loud boy felt a bit concerned; from the looks on their faces, Lincoln felt that the twins were under the implication that he actually hated them, just like what Lucy thought prior to Lincoln forgiving her. Granted, Lincoln is still very much upset with what had happened, but he doesn't actually _hate_ any of his ex-siblings, or the rest of the family, for that matter.

If Lincoln actually _did_ hate them, would he have given them the chance to make up for what they did to him back then?

…

As it turned out, none of Lincoln's friends were available to hang out today. Clyde and his dads were visiting relatives, Zach had relatives visiting, Rusty somehow did something to get himself grounded (in case anyone was wondering, Rocky wasn't in any trouble unlike his older brother), and Liam was at the hospital, given that his mother was rushed there due to breaking a leg; Liam was trying to provide moral support.

This meant that any plans of hanging out with friends today was shot for the white-haired boy. After hanging up the phone after talking to Liam, Lincoln turned around, looked up, and let out a sigh. He could spend the day reading comics or playing video games, but he was actually hoping to hang out with someone today. …Heh, ironic. The one time that he actually _wanted_ to spend time with someone instead of being forced into it, Lincoln couldn't find any-

"Come on, mom!" Lincoln could hear Lola and Lana say in unison in tones of complaint.

"I'm sorry, girls, but I don't really feel comfortable with the two of you going to the park alone," Rita's voice replied, "I mean, it would be different if any of your five oldest sisters were available to watch you, but they all have something going on today."

Huh, so the twins couldn't go play at the park because Lynn, Luan, Luna, Leni and Lori were all unavailable to keep an eye on them? Lincoln chuckled to himself a bit in a tone of slightly dark amusement. " _Sucks to be them_ ," Lincoln thought in regards to the twins' plans being shot. …But who was Lincoln to find any amusement in this? His own plans were shot, thus leaving him with nothing to do. At the very least, he wanted to get out of the house for a bit, to get some fresh air.

After thinking about it for a few seconds, Lincoln walked over to where Rita was talking to the twins while saying, "Hey, Mrs. Loud!"

* * *

A few minutes later, Lincoln was sitting on a bench at the local parks, his arms laying over the back of the bench he sat on, as he looked up into the sky and watched the clouds go by. Nearby, the twins were playing, with Lana on the monkey bars and Lola in the sandbox. Lincoln let out a sigh that clearly indicated that he felt conflicted; despite a part of him actually wanting to forgive the rest of his family, another part of him knew full well that none of them had done enough to warrant said forgiveness. Even Lori and Lisa, with the leaps and bounds that they had both made respectively, haven't yet reached that level.

As Lincoln watched the clouds overhead slowly move on by, he heard a familiar female voice call out, "Hey, Lame-o! What are you doing here?" Looking down from the clouds, Lincoln turned his head and saw Ronnie Anne come walking over while carrying a skateboard. Ronnie Anne was accompanied by her friend Astrid Ace, along with a girl who Lincoln didn't recognize.

The girl looked to be about the same age as the twins; she had her brown hair in twin pigtails, similar to how Lana has her hair. The girl wore a long-sleeved purple shirt with a white kitty face symbol in approximately the center, a light purple skirt that reached her knees, white socks that reached halfway up her shins, purple slip on shoes, and a yellow hat with matching bag. Like Astrid, this younger girl bore noticeable hints of having some degree of Asian heritage, leading Lincoln to suspect that she might be a sibling of the Ace girl's.

"Hey, Ronnie Anne," Lincoln greeted casually as he got up, "Hey, Astrid. What's up?"

"I needed to get out and get some fresh air," Ronnie Anne said while holding up her skateboard, "So I figured I'd come here to the park and ride." Jerking a thumb at Astrid and the younger girl, Ronnie Anne continued, "I bumped into Astrid, who was on her way taking her younger sister Anna to the park, so I figured that I'd shoot the breeze with her."

"Astrid's friend's coat is a very pretty color!" Anna remarked, drawing a slight chuckle that sounded amused out of the Hispanic girl.

"That's the first time I heard someone outside of my family complement my jacket," Ronnie Anne remarked, "A lot of other people usually associate my jacket with terror."

"I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss that," Lincoln said to Ronnie Anne, "I mean, I have heard some people refer to you as the 'Purple Pain'."

"Purple Pain?" Ronnie Anne repeated in a tone of slight confusion. After considering what Lincoln had said for a few seconds, the Hispanic girl let out a laugh. "Heh!" Ronnie Anne laughed, "That's actually a pretty good one! I actually kind of like the sound of that!"

"And you wonder why I'm worried that you'll eventually get yourself into some trouble," Astrid said as she turned to face her friend. This only drew a bit more chuckling out of Ronnie Anne.

…

While Ronnie Anne was riding her skateboard around the perimeter of the local park, Lincoln and Astrid sat on the bench as they kept an eye on Lola, Lana and Anna. While the two white-haired kids were keeping an eye on their respective younger siblings, they decided to shoot the breeze a bit. "Your friend Rusty was grounded?" Astrid asked in a mildly concerned tone, "What did he do?"

"I'm pretty sure it had to do with breaking something," Lincoln replied, "I didn't get a whole lot of details on the matter."

"I see," Astrid said, a lingering hint of concern still in her tone. Turning to face Lincoln, Astrid asked, "Wasn't Rusty your friend who mentioned that you got Chandler to be afraid of you?"

"Yeah, that was Rusty who brought it up," Lincoln answered, "You're still creeped out by Chandler's flirting with you, aren't you? Have you tried telling a teacher or Principal Huggins about it?"

"I have tried, yes," Astrid replied in a mildly dejected tone, "But I haven't actually been able to tell any school staff member anything. Something always pops up."

"Have you tried setting the record straight with Chandler?" Lincoln suggested.

"He keeps interrupting me before I can get a word in edgewise," Astrid explained.

Lincoln thought about the situation that the Swedish/Japanese girl was finding herself in for a bit. After some consideration, Lincoln said, "How about informing your mom and dad, and getting one of them to meet with Chandler's parents about it?"

"I…could inform my mom about it," Astrid began a bit nervously, "My dad…unfortunately isn't around. Although I suppose I could bring in my older brother Aggro to help."

Lincoln understood what the white-haired girl was talking about. He could also tell that the absence of her father was something of a touchy subject, so he decided not to push it.

"But enough about my own troubles," Astrid remarked, "From what Ronnie Anne told me, you've got some serious issues with some of your sisters after they did something downright unforgivable to you. She didn't go into a whole lot of detail, although she did say something about having a desire to give all of your sisters responsible for your troubles bloody noses."

Lincoln wasn't too surprised that Ronnie Anne had told Astrid about how he was compelled to run away a while ago, although he had to wonder if Ronnie Anne had told the white-haired girl about the four specific girls that he mentioned when Bobby was expecting him to name some names. And if Ronnie Anne seriously wanted to give bloody noses to _all_ of the responsible girls, then she would have a hell of a lot more work that she was currently thinking.

"I'm…going to have to ask that Ronnie Anne not do that," Lincoln said dryly, "I can deal with them myself."

With a smile, Astrid said, "You really are a great person, Lincoln. Now I see why your friend with the glasses trusts you so much."

"My friend with the glasses?" Lincoln repeated in a mildly confused tone, "Which one are you talking about? Clyde or Zach?"

"I don't know his name," Astrid admitted, a mild hint of embarrassment in her tone, "All I know is that he wears glasses." With a hint of blushing on her face, Astrid added, "Also, he's a _far_ nicer boy then that Chandler creep." After hearing Astrid say this, along with seeing the look on her face, Lincoln's expression changed to one of surprise and bafflement; does the white-haired Ace girl actually have a crush on either Clyde or Zach (she wasn't being specific, only saying that Lincoln's friend in question wore glasses)? Better not say this to Chandler.

Actually, scratch that. Lincoln would totally enjoy rubbing this fact in Chandler's face.

"But enough about me," Astrid said, snapping Lincoln out of his thoughts. Giving Lincoln a concerned look, Astrid asked, "You aren't going to hold your sisters doing you wrong against them forever, are you? Because despite what they may have done, they're your family." With a mildly sad look on her face, Astrid continued, "You'll never know when the chance to let go of your resentment towards them will disappear because one of them might…no longer be around." Shaking her head gently, Astrid said, "I'm sorry about that last part. I guess that since my father, along with my aunt and uncle, are…no longer around…I let my imagination run wild a bit."

Despite Astrid apologizing for letting her imagination run wild a bit, Lincoln had to admit that she raised an excellent point. After all, the sole Loud boy had no telling if one of his sisters might suddenly 'no longer be around', as Astrid had put it. If such a fate did happen to one of the Loud girls before the girl in question had a chance to make amends with Lincoln, the white-haired boy would undoubtedly feel guilty about it.

The dream he had where he chased down and killed Luna in cold blood also made Lincoln feel a degree of horror with the idea as well. It was a dream that still gave Lincoln a chill to this day.

"I don't want to hold what my sisters did against them forever, no," Lincoln remarked to Astrid, "But given what happened, I don't want to forgive them just like that." Looking up into the sky, Lincoln let out a sigh as he continued, "When the time comes for me to forgive one of them, I want to be justified in doing so. Otherwise, would forgiving them have any actual meaning?"

With a small but appreciative smile, Astrid said, "That sounds pretty wise of you, Lincoln. But I still hope you'll eventually be able to forgive your sisters who wronged you." Looking up into the sky herself, Astrid added, "Not being able to ever forgive a family member…that doesn't sound pleasant if you ask me. I would not like to be in a spot like that myself, especially if something happens that would make it so that I would never be able to forgive a family member that wronged me."

"Yeah," Lincoln said as he continued to look up into the clouds. Granted, Lincoln was upset with more than just a few of the Loud girls, and he still wanted to forgive those who have wronged him with the bad luck fiasco.

But he also wanted to be justified in his forgiving.

* * *

After Lincoln had gotten his little sisters home, his friend Rusty called him up; as it turned out, the offence that Rusty was grounded over was actually his dad's fault, so Rusty was ungrounded and free to go while Mrs. Spokes had a serious talking-to with Mr. Spokes. After the two friends hung out for approximately two and a half hours, Lincoln had to take his leave after telling Rusty that he'd see him later, along with telling Rocky that he'd tell Lucy that he said hi.

Upon walking into his ex-family's place of residence, Lincoln didn't get two steps into the Loud family residence before he was met up by Lana. Before anything, Lincoln noticed two things right away about the tomboyish Loud twin. One, not only was Lana wearing a pair of gloves, but that they were a pair of long pink gloves, the same kind of gloves that Lola wears all the time. Two, Lana was clearly trying to force herself to be cheerful; the white-haired boy saw signs that the tomboyish Loud twin had been crying earlier.

"Hey, Lincoln!" Lana greeted, "Glad that you got back! Lola and I got something set up, and we want you to check it out!"

"You and Lola got something set up?" Lincoln asked, a hint of surprise in his tone, "You mean to say that you and Lola actually worked together on something?"

"Heh, yeah," Lana remarked with a bit of an understanding chuckle, "I can see why you'd be surprised to hear that." Gesturing for Lincoln to follow her, Lana continued, "Well come on, Lincoln! Lola and I bet that you're going to love what we did!"

"As long as you two didn't do anything that would prompt either of your parents or any of your sisters to get angry with you," Lincoln remarked a bit dryly as he followed the tomboyish Loud twin. To his surprise, Lana led Lincoln to the dining room area, where Lola was waiting. To Lincoln's surprise again, there was a variety of food stuffs set up on the table. There was a plate of cookies, a fully-prepared cake, and even a mug from which the warm, alluring smell of hot chocolate came from.

After looking at the spread of sweets that had been prepared, Lincoln looked over to where Lola stood; Lincoln saw that, like Lana before her, Lola had also been crying recently, and in fact was clearly trying not to cry at this moment. Additionally, Lincoln saw that Lola was wearing a slightly more ornate pair of her usual long pink gloves. "Lana and I did all of this all by ourselves," Lola said to her older brother as she gestured to where the spread of sweets sat at the table, "No one helped us with any of it."

Lincoln gestured for the twins to wait in the dining room area as he walked into the kitchen. After a few seconds, Lincoln came back. "I'm going to assume that you two also handled all of the cleaning on your own as well," Lincoln remarked in a knowing tone, "Because the kitchen seems surprisingly clean considering that two six-year-old girls claimed to have used it earlier."

"You know me, Lincoln," Lola said with something of a laugh that Lincoln could tell was a bit forced, "I don't like things being left messy."

"Also, mom would have yelled at us," Lana pointed out.

"Hmm," Lincoln remarked in agreement.

"So, Lincoln," Lola asked as she walked over to Lana and stood next to her, "What do you think? Lana and I thought that you'd like a really sweet lunch, so we made all of this!" Lincoln looked to the twins, then to where the stuff they made sat on the table. Lincoln could tell that the cookies and cake were homemade. Lincoln then looked to the twins again. After giving the pieces that he was presented with a few moments of consideration, Lincoln pointed to the twins.

"You two," Lincoln said in a firm tone that would hear no argument from the twins, "Wait here." Lincoln then turned around and left the dining room, with Lola and Lana waiting as they were told and where they were told. They worried, due to the tone that Lincoln had used, that they were in trouble. Well, they did use the kitchen while mom and dad were both out, but they didn't destroy anything, and they did a very good job at cleaning up. Also, the stuff that they made did come out surprisingly good for the efforts of two six-year-old girls.

Lola was about to say something to Lana, but before the pageant winning Loud sister could get a word out, Lincoln came back into the dining room. To the confusion of Lola and Lana, Lincoln was carrying, of all things, a first-aid kit. "The gloves," Lincoln said to the twins in the same firm tone as before, "Take them off."

"Why do you want us to take off the gloves, Lincoln?" Lola asked, her tone clearly containing a hint of worry.

"Take off the gloves," Lincoln repeated, adding a bit more firmness to his tone. The twins turned to face each other, exchanging worried looks. After a few seconds, Lola and Lana realized that they were not going to get out of this. With both of them sighing in defeated tones, the twins proceeded to remove the gloves that they were respectively wearing. They did so gingerly, both of them wincing slightly as if removing the gloves caused the twins a great deal of pain. When he got a look at the twins' hands, Lincoln saw that his suspicions were right.

Both twins sported spots on their hands where small heat blisters had formed; Lola additionally had a noticeable burn mark on the palm of her left hand, going from somewhere under her left index finger and going diagonally all the way down to the bottom of the hand. Seeing the damage on the twins' respective hands, Lincoln let out a resigned sigh; Lola and Lana had hurt themselves in what was clearly their attempt to get back into his good graces again. Granted, small children hurting themselves trying to make something in the kitchen isn't exactly rare, but it still worried the white-haired boy to see the twins like this.

"…Is this why Lana's wearing your usual pair of gloves?" Lincoln asked Lola.

"My usual pair…was actually burned really badly," Lola explained as tears started to well up a bit in the corners of her eyes, "Lana's using an extra pair of the gloves I usually wear while I'm using my fancy pair of gloves."

Sighing in a resigned tone, Lincoln said as he turned around to collect the first-aid kit he brought with him, "Are there any other burns that you two have that I should be made aware of?"

"What do you mean, Lincoln?" Lana asked as she and Lola watched Lincoln pop the first-aid kit open.

Looking over to Lana, Lincoln said, "Isn't it obvious? Someone has to treat both your injuries and the ones Lola has." After getting out some antibacterial ointment, gauze wrap and medical tape, Lincoln said in an instructional tone, "Alright, girls. Hold your hands out." After a few minutes, Lincoln got both of the twins' respective hands tended to. When that was taken care of, Lincoln put the supplies he had out back into the first-aid kit. After closing the kit, Lincoln turned to regard the twins.

"What were you two girls thinking?" Lincoln asked the twins in a stern tone, "Using the kitchen without supervision? Your mom didn't tell you two to not use the kitchen like that without reason, you know." Remembering the conversation that he had with Astrid at the park earlier, Lincoln continued, "You two are both lucky that things didn't escalate beyond burning your hands a bit."

"I'm sorry, Lincoln," Lola began, sounding both ashamed and upset, "It's just…it's just that I really, really, _really_ wanted to make it up to you for my part in what we all did to you to make you want to run away." Shaking a bit, Lola continued as tears started to flow a bit, "Lana and I thought that you'd like it if you had a bunch of sweets, so we made you the cake and cookies and the hot chocolate."

"I'm really, really, _really_ sorry too, Lincoln," Lana said as she herself started to cry a bit, "Lola and I thought that if we did this, then you'd trust us again. But with you scolding us about using the kitchen without someone watching us, I guess that plan flew out the window." Seeing tears flowing freely out of the twins like this, Lincoln merely sighed gently.

Looking over to where everything sat on the table, Lincoln paid special regard to the mug of hot chocolate. "…I doubt that you made just enough hot chocolate to fill one mug," Lincoln said to the twins without turning to face them, "Is there any more?"

"There a pot of hot chocolate on the stove," Lola remarked as she sniffled a bit, "Lana and I didn't have any because we made it for you."

"I see," Lincoln remarked in a neutral tone. Turning to face the twins, Lincoln said, "Girls, I want the two of you to promise me something."

"What is it?" Lana asked as both she and Lola gave Lincoln their full attention.

"The next time the two of you embark on something like this that requires the use of the kitchen," Lincoln began as he gestured to the stuff that they made, " _Please_ get someone responsible to supervise you. I don't want you girls hurting yourselves like you did."

"Sorry, Lincoln," the twins said in unison, their heads hung in shame.

"You two wait here again," Lincoln said as he left the dining room area again. The twins waited obediently again, and to their surprise, Lincoln came back in from the kitchen about a minute later while carrying two mugs that were filled with hot chocolate from the pot on the stove. Lincoln sat the mugs on the table, then went back into the kitchen again, and came back after another minute carrying three small plates, a few forks and a knife.

Pointing to the one side of the table, Lincoln said to the twins, "Sit." Confused, Lola and Lana nonetheless obeyed their older brother. After they sat down, Lincoln proceeded to cut the cake that Lola and Lana had made. To the twins' surprise, Lincoln served each of them a slice of the cake, with each slice coming with some of the cookies and a mug of hot chocolate. After Lincoln got himself a slice of the cake and some cookies, he took up the mug of hot chocolate that had been provided to him and took a sip.

"…Not bad," Lincoln remarked in a genuinely impressed tone as he considered the taste of the hot chocolate.

"Lincoln, what are you doing?" Lola asked, her tone sounding with mild trepidation.

Giving Lola a wry look, Lincoln replied, "What are you talking about? I'm just enjoying the hot chocolate that you girls made." After taking another sip, Lincoln set his mug down and looked to Lola and Lana. "Look, you two," Lincoln began in a serious tone that carried a hint of worry, "I don't want you or any of the other girls getting yourselves hurt, alright? It's bad enough that I'm upset with your sisters. I don't want to have to add being _worried_ about any of your sisters to that list." Leaning back in his seat a bit, Lincoln continued in the same serious tone that had a hint of worry, "I also don't want to have to add being worried about any of _my_ sisters to the list either."

"Wait a minute," Lana began, her upset tone containing a hint of confusion, "What do you mean 'sisters'? Lola and I thought that you only liked Lucy right now."

Arching an eyebrow at Lana, Lincoln asked, "Then what about you and Lola?" Upon hearing Lincoln say this, the twins both gasped before getting up off of their respective seats. Knowing what was coming up, Lincoln sat up straight as he gently pushed his mug and plate closer to the center of the table to reduce the risk of making a mess. He saved his treats just in time, as he was soon, for the second time, tackle-hugged by multiple blonde-haired objects simultaneously.

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER EIGHT

Author's notes:

Despite still not trusting most of his family, despite still resenting most of them, Lincoln does not want to see any of them hurt. This covers both being emotionally hurt, such as when Lynn's heart was broken a few chapters ago, as well as being physically hurt, such as when Lucy was punched in the eye by Biff or, as this chapter showed, Lola and Lana hurting themselves trying to practically make a bakery for Lincoln. So anywho, yeah. Once again, Lincoln has forgiven a sibling; two in one go, actually. And once again, I'm not sure if I did too well of a job on it. Hopefully my attempts at scenes where Lincoln forgives someone will improve as time goes on.

Also, keep in mind that the girls that Lincoln has forgiven so far are all kids even younger than he is; there isn't a whole lot that's within the realm of possibility for girls their age to do (I think that the girls that are _older_ that Lincoln should be able to pull off more impressive feats, though). I'm…still not sure if I should count Lisa as an exception or not, because like I have previously said, regardless of what Lisa's accomplished, she's still just a four-year-old child, and there's a great deal of difference between being _intelligent_ and being _mature_.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

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Chapter nine: Surprising Rivalry

Bobby Santiago was looking up into the night sky in his hometown of Royal Woods one early night as he sat, cross-legged and on the patio in his family's backyard; the stars had just started coming out, the air was cool…just inhaling through his nose gave the Santiago teen a sense that he was alive. Bobby opened his eyes after inhaling and exhaling, and as he looked up into the starry night sky once again, he had to wonder…would he have been able to enjoy nights such as this if he, his mother and his little sister Ronnie Anne did move in with their relatives in the next state over?

Don't get Bobby wrong; he loves his family dearly. In fact, his questioning about the possible move had nothing to do with his family; the city in which the Casagrandes lived was far noisier than Royal Woods, which meant that Bobby wouldn't have been able to enjoy the quiet that came with such a beautiful night. Also, the home city of the Casagrandes was rather dangerous, what with the local violent youth gang and that Broken Mirror person who has been going around, killing any and all members of that gang that he could find.

Granted, neither the gang or Broken Mirror have done anything in a while, so a relative peace had settled in the city. But that doesn't change the fact that a violent and lethal vigilante is still technically operating in that city. Furthermore, Bobby overheard his mother talk to her brother (Bobby's uncle) on the phone yesterday about some rather troubling developments in the city as of late; the city's citizens of Hispanic heritage are on the receiving end of some less-than-stellar treatment from other racial groups, mostly just African Americans and Caucasians using race as an excuse to vent their frustrations with how the city's being run.

Although the bulk of the city's danger seems to have faded, there is still that underlying hint of danger to address. And now there's racial tension? Gently shaking his head, Bobby looked up into the sky once again let out a sigh. Given what was currently going on in the city where the Casagrandes lived, what with violent youth gangs running amok, dangerous vigilantes who took things to their logical extreme, and now racial tension, the Hispanic teen was glad that his adorable little sister (Ronnie Anne is adorable no matter how many times she tries to deny it) was not growing up in such a hostile environment. Bobby feared that, with the environment being such a toxic influence in that city, that Ronnie Anne might develop something of a mean streak or, worse yet, become a bully.

Yes, Bobby decided with a gentle nod in the affirmative to himself, the choice to stay in Royal Woods was a good one, as it was a far less toxic place. …But it still had its troubles, Bobby realized. With a regretful sigh, Bobby reflected upon what happened with the Louds, the family that Bobby's beloved girlfriend Lori belongs to.

Roughly two months or so prior to Bobby's family deciding not to move after all, Lori's younger slash only brother, Lincoln, ran away from home due to being mistreated by four of his sisters. It was to Bobby's great relief that Lori was not one of those four. However, Lori and the rest of the family were duped by the four sisters who Lincoln had named at Bobby's request into thinking that their mistreating of Lincoln was merely some sort of game. As such, the family members that were duped still feel guilty for what had happened.

From what Lori had told Bobby, her family is in the process of trying to earn Lincoln's forgiveness, in the hopes that they could all be a family again. The last time that Bobby heard about any of that, Lincoln had so far forgiven three of his sisters. Bobby hoped for the Louds' sake that they will all make up for what they had done to Lincoln, and that the bro would be able to let go of what had happened and be at peace with himself. It's going to be a slow and steady process for the Louds, but with three sisters forgiven so far, the Hispanic teen is liking the odds.

And one of the three sisters that's been forgiven is one of the four who was directly responsible for driving Lincoln to running away in the first place; that has got to be a good sign.

"Are you okay, Bobby?" a young female voice said from behind Bobby, making him turn and see his little sister Ronnie Anne standing there, her form standing out against the open sliding glass door that led into the Santiago house's kitchen.

"It's nothing, Nie-Nie," Bobby replied. Turning back around, Bobby looked up into the starry night sky once again. "It's just…" Bobby went on, "…It's just that it sucks how much of a raw deal the bro got, what with him running away and why."

"Yeah, I still wanna give each of Lincoln's responsible sisters a bloody nose," Ronnie Anne remarked in a mildly huffy tone as she sat down on the patio next to her older brother. With a chuckle, the Hispanic girl added, "While we're on the subject, I heard that Lincoln's older sister who is into fashion gave Lynn a black eye."

"Oh, I think the sister who likes fashion is Leni," Bobby remarked, "I'm not entirely sure myself, though. I'll ask Lori later if I remember." After that, the two Santiago siblings, older brother and younger sister, looked up into Royal Wood's beautiful starry night sky for a few moments before any of them said anything else.

"…Is he going to be okay, Bobby?" Ronnie Anne asked, more than a hint of concern in her tone, "You know, Lincoln."

"Can't say for certain right now, Nie-Nie," Bobby replied in a gentle, understanding tone, "But if what Lori's been telling me is correct, and I've never had any reason to doubt her, then the bro is on the right track to recovering."

Crossing her arms over her chest, Ronnie Anne said with an annoyed look on her face, "I still can't believe that Lame-o let that bratty little princess off the hook."

With an understanding sigh, Bobby said, "Sis, this is Lincoln's deal that he has to work with. If he feels that one of his family members who wronged him has done enough to make up for their part in what happened, then that's his decision."

"…" Ronnie Anne looked to the ground on her left, contemplating what her older brother had just said. Looking up from the ground and over to where Bobby sat, Ronnie Anne said, "…I still don't like what happened to Lincoln, though."

"Heh," Bobby chuckled in a mildly amused tone, "You really do like the bro, don't you?" As Ronnie Anne's face started to redden a bit out of embarrassment, Bobby went on in the same amused tone, "You know, Nie-Nie, there's this thing known as double in-laws, which essentially says that even if Lori and I tie the knot, you and Lincoln can still-"

"BOBBY!" Ronnie Anne exclaimed, both her face and her tone clearly conveying that she was very much embarrassed. Turning around to see the look on his little sister's face, Bobby could not help but let out a laugh, which made Ronnie Anne blush with embarrassment even more than she already was.

* * *

The following day, Lincoln was at the local park, sitting on one of the benches and trying to relax. Lincoln's little sisters Lucy, Lola and Lana went with their white-haired older brother to the park, the twins so they could play and Lucy because she wanted to sit under the shade of a tree and work on her poetry. Seeing his little sisters having fun, each in their own way, made Lincoln feel at peace. He let out a sigh; it was not content or resigned, but rather somewhere in between those two feelings.

As Lincoln relaxed, he heard some kids from over a way talking. Taking a look, Lincoln saw that it was two kids approximately his age; one was an African American girl, and the other was a Hispanic boy. The first words Lincoln was able to hear from that conversation was when the girl said, "…He leave Astrid alone already? I'm pretty sure that she made it clear that she doesn't like him."

"It takes forever for things to get through the thick skulls of jerks like Chandler," the boy replied to his friend, his tone showing that he was agreeing with the African American girl.

Leaning back a bit more in his seat on the bench, Lincoln turned his head to face the direction his younger sisters were in more directly. " _Oh_ ," Lincoln thought to himself, " _They_ ' _re_ _talking about Chandler and how he gives Astrid the creeps_." News like that was nothing new to the white-haired boy, so he was going to get back to relaxing. However, something he heard the African American girl say caught his attention.

"Since we're on the subject of that creep Chandler," the girl said to her friend, "Did you know that Chandler's dad and Francisco's dad are competing with each other for that head supervisor spot at the local sewage treatment plant where my mom works?"

With a confused look on his face, the boy said, "Remind me again who Francisco is?"

"He belongs to that baseball team that was discovered to have committed multiple instances of cheating a short while ago," the girl explained, "From what I heard, Francisco himself didn't take part in any of the cheating." With a nod, the girl added, "I was at that game myself, since my older brother belonged to the team that opposed Francisco's team in that game. My brother was mildly annoyed that his team won because his team was given the win due to the cheating of Francisco's team."

"Oh!" the boy said in a tone of realization, "Now I know who you're talking about! Yeah, I'm not so sure if Francisco was telling the truth, to be honest." With a gentle shake of his head, the boy continued, "So I'm guessing that things are going to develop into a Francisco vs. Chandler kind-of deal?"

With a nod in the affirmative, the girl said, "From what I'm hearing about it, Chandler and Francisco are already at it, trying to one-up each other." With a gentle shake of her head, the girl said, "If either of them do something good or bad, it will reflect on their family. Their respective dads, to be particular."

"Yeah, I'm going to stay clear away from that messy business, thank you very much," the boy remarked, "If the two of them end up ruining each other, I want no part of it." The girl nodded in agreement as she and her friend walked off to somewhere else. When the two kids were gone, Lincoln let out a sigh that clearly sounded like he was pondering what was going on.

Chandler's dad and Francisco's dad were competing with each other at work to get a new position, and that competition was trickling down to their sons? If this meant that Chandler would leave him alone, then Lincoln welcomed it. The only concerns on the matter that the white-haired boy had was how this might affect Lynn; granted, Lincoln was still upset with his athletic ex-sister, but this deal with Chandler was going to involve Lynn's ex-crush. How will Lynn react when she hears that her ex-crush is going to have something of a rivalry with the one boy at Lincoln's school who routinely made life for him a living hell?

Knowing Lynn, she'd probably offer to pummel Chandler for Lincoln, and all he had to do was ask. She might even throw pummeling Francisco in pro bono.

Shaking his head gently to rid his mind of that thought, Lincoln took his phone out to check the time. Seeing the time, Lincoln got up off of the bench. "Hey Lucy! Lola! Lana!" Lincoln called out, "It's getting a bit late! We ought to be heading back!"

* * *

That evening at the Loud family residence, Lincoln was sitting in Lori and Leni's room, as Lori had assembled all of the Loud kids for a meeting. "Okay everyone, this is literally the deal that we're working with right now," Lori said as she began the meeting, "My friends on the varsity golf team and I are still trying to convince Allison to join our team. Although only Leni, Luna and I go to Royal Woods High, thus putting us in the same school as Allison, if any of you have any ideas that can help, that would literally be awesome."

"Why exactly do you want Allison to join the varsity golf team again?" Luan asked, a mildly confused look on her face as she raised a hand.

"Whenever the girls on the team and I can convince Allison to play a round with us, Allison literally scores nothing but holes in one," Lori explained, "I'm not sure if that's just skill or an obscene amount of luck, but if the team had a player like Allison, then there's literally no way that we'd ever lose to another school's team."

"…Isn't Allison the girl you borrowed a specific golf club from a short while ago?" Lincoln asked, a curious look with a mild hint of suspicion on his face.

"Yes, that's her alright," Lori replied with a nod in the affirmative.

"And isn't she also the older sister of me and Ronnie Anne's friend Astrid?" Lincoln continued.

"That's correct," Lori replied.

"…Maybe if Allison sees some of us getting along with her siblings," Lincoln began to explain, "Then she may be less opposed to joining the team. I mean, I'm friends with Astrid, Lucy is friends with Argent thanks to Rocky, and I think that Lola and Lana are friends with Anna."

"Hmm," Lori began as she considered what Lincoln said, "That's literally not a bad idea at all, Lincoln. Thanks."

"And while we're on the subject of Allison and her siblings," Lincoln said, "I think that we might have to inform Allison about how this one boy at my school keeps flirting with Astrid, and that the flirting gives Astrid the creeps, and that regardless of what she tries, Astrid can't get the boy to leave her alone."

"Wait, I thought you said that Astrid has a crush on either Clyde or Zach," Luan remarked in a mildly confused tone.

"I'm not talking about either Clyde or Zach," Lincoln explained, "The boy that I'm talking about is that jerk Chandler."

After making an annoyed sounding grunt, Lori said, "You mean that annoying little twerp with the reddish-brown hair?" Lincoln nodded in the affirmative to Lori's question. "Hmm," Lori continued, "I'm pretty sure that Allison would have said something about some boy bothering one of her little sisters if she knew that it was happening." Pulling out her smartphone, Lori said, "I need you all to literally give me a minute. I'm going to call Allison."

Everyone watch as Lori dialed up a number, then as the call tried to go through, Lori held the phone to the right side of her head. "…Allison?" Lori said into her phone, "Yeah, it's me, Lori. …No, I'm not calling you in an attempt to get you to join the varsity golf team. The reason that I'm calling you is that I've just been informed by one of my siblings that a boy at Royal Woods Elementary School by the name of Chandler is bothering your younger sister Astrid with flirting that she isn't comfortable with. Are you aware of this, yes or-"

Lori was cut off, and she had to hold her phone as far away as possible, as angry shouting erupted from the phone. The shouting clearly sounded female, and from a person roughly the same age as Lori. It also sounded like it came from a mighty and powerful warrior woman with very strong Viking-like undertones to it. When the shouting died down, Lori held the phone back to the right side of her head. "…We can tackle this tomorrow, Allison," Lori remarked, "It's a bit late in the evening to do anything about it. …Okay, I'll see you tomorrow."

After Lori ended the call, she slipped the phone back into her pocket then turned to face Lincoln. "…I'm guessing that Allison didn't know," Lori remarked.

"Well Astrid did tell me that she was having trouble getting the point across to someone who can help her," Lincoln said, "Although I think she said that she hadn't told her older siblings yet."

"Well then," Lori remarked to the Loud kids as a whole, "Now that we got that part out of the way, I believe that we need to go onto the next topic of this meeting…"

* * *

After the sibling meeting was ended, everyone filed out of the room aside from Lori and Leni, because the meeting took place in their room. As everyone left, Lincoln was met up by Lucy and the twins. "I think I remember hearing Argent say something about a boy in your grade bothering his older sister Astrid," Lucy said to her older brother, "I'm guessing that what he was saying is true, then."

"Yeah," Lincoln remarked with a nod in the affirmative.

"If a boy was bothering any of us the way that one boy is bothering Anna's older sister," Lana began, "Would you do anything about it?"

"Provided that I knew that it was going on, yes," Lincoln replied, then to Lucy and the twins as a whole added, "What Chandler is doing is not something that I'd ever wish on any of you. Or any of your sisters, for that matter. However, I have to know that it's happening, so if something like that pops up, let me know right away, alright?"

"Of course, Lincoln," Lola said, "This Chandler jerk you're talking about sounds like a total creep. Unlike Winston, of course, because he's a perfect gentleman."

"Didn't you say something about Winston's older sister Samantha using his shampoo and conditioner without his permission?" Lana asked.

"Yeah, and I understand how he feels," Lola remarked, "I mean, Luna pulls the same stunt on me all the time." Giving her hair a gentle bounce with her right hand, Lola added, "I've got to keep my hair in top pageant condition, after all, and Luna using my shampoo and conditioner without me knowing about it makes keeping up my hair's condition a bit difficult."

As Lincoln, Lucy and the twins made their way down the hallway, they bumped into Lynn, who had just come out of the bathroom. Upon seeing Lynn, Lincoln remembered another part of what he had heard at the park earlier that day. A part that he was not quite sure how Lynn would react upon hearing. Well, there was only one way to check to see how his athletic ex-sister would react to the news.

"Hey, Lynn," Lincoln said, getting Lynn's attention.

"What's up, Lincoln?" Lynn asked, sounding a bit surprised that Lincoln was willingly talking to her, seemingly out of the blue.

"You remember what I brought up during the sibling meeting a few minutes ago?" Lincoln began, "You know, about that Chandler guy at my school."

"You want me to pummel him for you?" Lynn asked.

"No, no," Lincoln replied, "That's not it." With a bit of a resigned sigh, Lincoln said, "When I was at the park earlier, I overheard two kids saying that Chandler is going to be getting into something of a rivalry with, well… _him_."

Gasping in a shocked tone that carried a hint of worry, Lynn said, "That little snot is going to try to mess with Ulfric?"

"No, no, not Ulfric," Lincoln replied with a gentle shake of his head, "I mean the guy _before_ Ulfric."

Lynn's expression turned from one of worry to one of indifference. "…Oh," the sporty Loud girl said in a neutral tone, "You mean Francisco." With a gentle shake of her head, Lynn asked, "Well why didn't you just say so, Lincoln?"

"Given the last time Lori said his name out loud…" Lincoln remarked in a knowing tone.

"Oh, that," Lynn replied, "Well…I was in a really bad mood that day because of what had happened. I'm over what that cheating enabler did, as well as the jerk himself. Besides, I've got someone else to focus on now." Giving Lincoln a curious look, Lynn asked, "Why would you worry so much about me when it comes to this bit of news, Lincoln?"

"Since this involves your previous crush, I'm worried that it might have had some sort of an impact on you," Lincoln replied, "I don't want to see you suffer again like you did the day you came back from that one game where you played against his team."

Lincoln's words made Lynn feel a bit guilty, given that Lincoln still hasn't forgiven her yet for her part in driving him away. Even so, they also touched Lynn's heart, while also giving her just a bit of confidence that Lincoln will one day acknowledge her as his sister again. With a small but appreciative smile, Lynn said, "Thanks, Lincoln."

The white-haired boy didn't say anything, but he did nod in acknowledgement of Lynn's response. After that, Lynn and Lucy went off to their bedroom to go to bed. Wen they were gone, Lincoln turned to the twins. "We ought to get to bed as well," Lincoln said to the twins, "Come on. I'll walk you both to your room."

Lola and Lana both nodded in the affirmative, happy that their older brother was looking out for them. With his little sisters following him, Lincoln made his way to the other end of the hall, and once he got Lola and Lana to their room, Lincoln went into his own room, were he got dressed in a sleep outfit, crawled into bed, then went to sleep.

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER NINE

Author's Notes:

I was considering trying to fit in Lincoln forgiving another sibling in this chapter, but I decided against the idea for two reasons. One, having siblings being forgiven multiple chapters in a row might make things a bit rushed, and two, I couldn't think of enough of a plot for such a chapter. Besides, I think that a breather chapter such as this might be called for, especially since I was able to throw in the part about Chandler squaring off against Francisco, or at least he is preparing to do so. That was something that I've been wanting to do for the world-building of this story's setting.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

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Chapter ten: First Born

Chandler and his main goon-friends were hanging out in Chandler's backyard one well enough day in their hometown of Royal Woods, Michigan. "…Wait a minute," said one of Chandler's cronies, a well-fed boy with yellow-blonde hair that shot straight up in a way that was reminiscent of a certain fighting game character, "Your dad's up for a serious promotion at the sewage treatment plant?"

"Yeah, man," Chandler replied with a nod in the affirmative, "My family will see a serious boost in income if my dad scores the new promotion."

"But you also mentioned that he's going to have to go up against that Francisco guy's dad, who's also vying for the job," said the other crony, a boy who wore a red jacket.

"Yeah, and I've already tangoed with Francisco at least once," Chandler remarked. Giving his goon-friends a knowing look, Chandler asked, "You guys wanna back me up on this one?"

"What, and leave you hanging?" said the first crony, "Chandler, you ought to know us bet-"

"Chandler!" an adult woman's voice called out, cutting off the first crony in the process.

"Yeah, mom?" Chandler called back.

"There are these two older girls asking for you," Chandler's mom called back, "They're high schoolers from the looks of it."

Curious about the surprise visitors that he's gotten, Chandler decided to go check out what's going on. "High schoolers are asking for me?" Chandler said aloud to himself in a mildly confused tone, "What could this be about?"

"Doesn't sound like it makes a lot of sense, dude," Chandler's first goon-friend remarked in a tone that showed he agreed with Chandler like the faithful little lackey he is. Chandler nodded once to the first goon-friend in an agreeing manner before heading into his family's house, leaving his goon-friends to wait in the backyard.

…

Upon entering his family's living room, Chandler saw his mom waiting in the living room with two high school-aged girls. The first high school girl looked vaguely familiar to Chandler; did she work at Gus' Games n' Grub or something? The other high school girl, however, was no one that the conceited boy recognized.

About as tall as the girl she came with, the other high school girl had long yellow-blonde hair that was in twin pigtails that draped a bit down her back. The girl wore a red Sherpa hat with tassels hanging off of the ear flaps, a dark green somewhat baggy t-shirt, a pair of blue jeans, white sneakers, and, tied around her waist, a brown leather coat. The neck hole of the jacket was around the girl's waist so that her legs were partly inside of the coat, rather than the coat just covering the girl's rear end. There was also a white cloth bandage over the bridge of the girl's nose, although it gave off the aura that it was just there for aesthetic reasons, that it wasn't there to nurse any actual injury. Lastly, the girl had a thin, rectangular leather case over her back, peeking out from behind her right shoulder and left hip.

"You're the one named Chandler, right?" the unfamiliar girl said as she pointed an accusing finger at the conceited boy. Chandler was a bit intimidated by the girl's voice, which for some reason reminded him of Vikings storming the land and raiding the shore. That, plus the clearly grumpy aura the older girl gave off, tipped Chandler off right away that he might be in some serious trouble. Oh well, it shouldn't be too hard for Chandler to weasel his way out of whatever mess was involved, right?

"Yeah, that would be me," the conceited boy replied in the affirmative, "Why do you ask? Is there anything wrong?"

"You are familiar with Astrid Ace, are you not?" the older girl continued, her tone and expression unchanging.

"Well of course I'm familiar with her," Chandler replied, surprised that this girl apparently knew who Astrid was, "She's the cutest girl at my school." Giving the older girl a curious look, Chandler asked, "Why, is she in trouble?"

"No, but I would literally say that you are," the first older girl said.

"Hey wait," Chandler said as he turned to face the first girl, "Aren't you Larry's older sister who works at Gus'? What was your name…Laila?"

"My brother's name is Lincoln, but yes, I work at Gus'," the first girl said, "Also, my name's Lori, not Laila."

"What makes you say that I'm in trouble?" Chandler asked, a mild amount of accusation and suspicion in his tone.

"I was informed by my friend Lori here that you have recently taken to consistently bothering my younger sister Astrid," the mystery girl replied, snapping Chandler's attention back onto her, "Is this true, yes or no?"

"What? Of course, I'm not bothering her," Chandler defended, "She totally likes me."

"Funny," the mystery girl scoffed in a grumpy tone, "Because after I was informed of what was going on, I asked Astrid about it myself, and she confirmed that not only have you been bothering her every time you see her at school, but that you flirting with her creeps her out."

"You're clearly overreacting," Chandler dismissed in a casual tone, "There's no way that Astrid thinks that I'm creepy. I mean, what about me is there that anyone can find to be creepy?"

"…I shall only give you one warning, little one," the mystery girl said, her brow furrowing a bit in simmering anger, "You shall stay away from Astrid or-"

"What?!" Chandler interrupted, clearly not happy with the idea of being told to stay away from the cutest girl at his school, "What do you mean I have to stay away from As-" This time, it was Chandler who was cut off when the mystery girl stomped her right foot forward so suddenly and hard that Chandler, Chandler's mom and Lori all flinched a bit out of surprise.

"YOU WILL HOLD YOUR TONGUE AND LET ME SPEAK, YOU LITTLE TROLL!" the mystery girl shouted at Chandler, clearly angry to have been interrupted.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Lori said to her friend, "Easy there, Allison. No need to go all Stoick the Vast on the kid. I mean, he's roughly Lincoln's age, for crying out loud."

"Larry's age, but whatever," Chandler remarked in a more or less casual tone.

"…" After considering Lori's suggestion for a moment, Allison said, "…Very well. But he _will_ be keeping away from my younger sister." Turning her head slightly so that her gaze was barely just on Chandler, Allison said in a threatening tone, "I'm pretty sure your parents would hate to hear that you've been bothering an innocent girl at your school, after all."

"I'm really sorry about how my son has been bothering your younger sister," Chandler's mother said to Allison in an apologetic tone, "I'll speak with my husband about this when he gets back from work at the sewage treatment plant."

"I would hate to have to come back and redo this conversation with you," Allison replied, "You seem too kind a person to have to go through it. It's a shame your son doesn't take after you in that regard." The two high school girls turned to leave, with Allison saying, "Take care."

…

"…I still don't see why Astrid seemed so hesitant that I'd be the one to deal with that little troll who's been bothering her at school," Allison remarked as she and Lori drove back to the part of the neighborhood that they came from, with Lori in the driver's seat of Vanzilla and Allison in the front passenger seat, "I mean, did you not see how well I commanded the conversation? And I even got an apology out of the little troll's mother."

"Yeah, I literally can't fathom the reason myself," Lori said, the sarcasm in her tone going by unnoticed by her friend in the passenger seat. After Lori's remark, both girls were silent for a bit. As she concentrated on the road, Lori allowed her mind to drift, drift to things that have been bugging her, such as how Lincoln ran away and why, and to miraculously finding Lincoln in the city that Bobby's family almost moved to.

And how she held her little brother, passed out from exhaustion, in her arms as she softly cried over him.

As Lori thought about this, her expression dropped from a neutral expression of someone concentrating on the road, to a resigned, almost sad look. Allison, who was mindlessly looking out the window, happened to turn and see the look on Lori's face. "…Something is bothering you, Lori, is it not?" Allison said, "Come on, I would be hearing about it."

"Astrid's eleven, right?" Lori asked.

"Yes," Allison replied in a mildly confused tone, "Although I fail to see how that has anything to do with anything else."

"…My little brother's the same age," Lori began.

"Ah," the teenage Ace girl said in a tone of understanding, "I have heard that your younger brother Lincoln ran away a while ago, and that he has recently come back to your family."

"Allison," Lori went on, her tone sounding mildly conflicted, "How…how good of a relationship do you have with your siblings?"

"Hmm?" Allison replied in a mildly confused tone, "You mean to say how well I get along with all of my siblings?" After seeing the affirmative nod from the oldest Loud sibling, Allison said, "Hmm, let me think about that. …Well, Aggro and I get along well enough. As well as twins that aren't the same gender as each other can get along, I mean."

"Yeah, I can just imagine what it would be like if either Lola or Lana was a boy instead of both Lola and Lana being girls," Lori remarked dryly.

"As for the rest of my siblings," Allison went on, "Amy and I have gotten along as most would expect of us, although she still expects me to buy a replacement pet bed for Spirit after Fenrir tore up the last one. Alphonse and I seldom ever interact with each other directly, although I think it's safe to say that we're on good terms with each other. Astrid and I get along well enough I suppose, although ever since our father died a few years back, Astrid tends to go to Aggro for pretty much everything."

"Maybe because Aggro doesn't regularly threaten to send people straight to Loki's daughter?" Lori deadpanned. Jerking a thumb over her shoulder to the backseat where Allison's case that she had over her back laid, Lori continued with a mild hint so suspicion in her tone, "I mean, we aren't going to play a round of golf today, so why did you bring your golf club?"

"I have my reasons," Allison replied.

"Uhh huh," Lori said, "So anywho, back to business. How do you get along with the rest of your siblings?"

"Andy looks up to me," Allison began, "And out of all of my siblings, I would say that Andy takes the most after me." With a chuckle, Allison added, "Andy told me how he was holding his own against some notorious bully at his school until your brother came in and stopped the whole show entirely."

"Uhh huh," Lori said, knowing the real events of that day because Lincoln told her and the other Loud girls after everyone was back from school that day.

"Argent respects me, along with the fact that as I'm technically the oldest of my siblings, I have authority over managing the group as a whole when our mother isn't around," Allison went on.

"Oh yeah, you're a few minutes older than Aggro," Lori remarked. After a few seconds, Lori asked, "So, how do you manage your younger siblings when you're left in charge?"

"It varies each time, although the general thing I go for is that so long as everyone doesn't make a whole lot of noise and doesn't do anything that would warrant a visit from a police officer, then I won't go and put the fear of Odin into them," Allison replied. With a chuckle, Allison added, "I mean, it's not like I'm some sort of dictator who makes everyone sit in their rooms quietly and not allow them to do anything at all until mom gets back!"

"Heh, yeah," Lori chuckled in a tone that was partly nervous but overall guilty.

"The last sibling on my list is Anna," Allison said as she finished talking about her younger siblings, "And she tends to stick close to Aggro, sort of like Astrid."

"Well little girls have something of a tendency to view their older brothers as great, invincible heroes," Lori remarked.

"I suppose," Allison said. Arching an eyebrow out of curiosity, Allison asked, "So Lori, what's with the sudden interest in how I get along with my siblings? Is it because how some of them are friends with some of your younger siblings?"

"…Truthfully, my relationship with my younger siblings has been kind of rocky over the last couple of years," Lori admitted in a resigned tone that had just a hint of sadness to it, "I think my connection to my younger siblings dipped right around the same time my popularity started to go up when you and I were twelve."

"Ah, I remember what happened back then," Allison remarked in a tone that radiated with a hint of fondness that came with recollecting the past, "The whole deal that led to you becoming the most popular girl in school. It stayed throughout middle school and accompanied you all the way to high school!" With a mildly curious look on her face, Allison asked, "Umm, was the dip in your connection with your younger siblings pre-make-over or post-make-over?"

"Post make-over," Lori replied instantly, "It was literally post-make-over."

"Hmm," Allison said, "You worry that your younger siblings don't like you." It was more a statement than a question.

"You don't know the half of it," Lori remarked, a hint of bitterness in her tone. Lori's expression became even more sad and resigned as she reflected upon Lincoln running away, especially on how she played a contributing role to prompting Lincoln to run away in the first place. Lori's change in expression did not go by unnoticed by Allison, who gave Lori's right shoulder a soft pat in a gesture of support.

"You are too hard on yourself, Lori," Allison said, "You're acting like Fenrir whenever he poops on the living room carpet."

"I'm sorry," Lori apologized, "It's just…it's just that I literally keep screwing up when it comes to trying to establish sibling bonds with my younger sisters and younger brother."

"…Your siblings do know that you love them," Allison replied, "Don't they?"

"Of course, they do," Lori said. After a few seconds, Lori added in a mildly unsure tone, "…Or at least, I hope they do. I certainly haven't given them much reason to think otherwise ever since I became and stayed popular."

"…You do love your siblings, right?" Allison asked.

"Of course, I do!" Lori replied instantly.

"Well then," Allison said with a hint of amusement in her tone, "It's clear to me that you ought to show your siblings that you love them, and make sure that they don't forget it, either."

"…Yeah," Lori remarked as her spirits started to lift a bit, "That sounds like a good idea. Thanks for the tip, Allison." The Ace girl nodded once in acknowledgement before both girls turned to face out the front window of Vanzilla. As the two girls continued to move along, Lori said, "So, your dog poops on the living room carpet, too?"

"The things that Fenrir leaves behind can slay a dragon, I tell you," Allison remarked with a bit of a laugh in her tone.

"Feh, can't be any worse than my family's dog Charles," Lori said.

"Why? What kind of dog is this Charles of yours?" Allison asked.

"He's a Pitbull Terrier, although admittedly a fairly small one even though he's a little over four," Lori replied. With an eyebrow ached out of curiosity, Lori asked, "Why? What kind of dog is Fenrir?"

* * *

Later that evening, Lori was laying on her bed in her and Leni's room back at the Loud family residence. The oldest Loud sibling stared up at the ceiling above her bed while her ditzy younger sister worked away on something over at the sewing machine. Lori was thinking about what happened a few years ago, about how Royal Woods nearly changed for the worse. If someone were to try and stop what was going on back then, they would have had to seriously risk their reputation among the social circles of Royal Woods middle and high school age students.

Since Lori didn't actually _have_ much of a reputation back then, she figured that she had nothing to lose. Lori's efforts paid off, the day was saved, and she became popular, with the first thing happening being that some girls who wanted to bring Lori into their circle decided to give her a make-over, turning her into what she looked like today. Lori wondered if that make-over from back then changed more than just her physical appearance.

"There we go!" Lori heard Leni say cheerfully as the sounds of the sewing machine came to a stop. Getting up from her bed and looking over, Lori saw that Leni had finished yet another one of her fashion design projects. As always, Leni's work was flawless, but Lori had no idea what Leni had made. From the angle she was looking at it from, the garment looked like some sort of waist-length sleeveless jacket.

"Leni, what's that supposed to be?" Lori asked as she pointed to the garment that her ditzy younger sister had just made.

"Oh!" Leni said, "Lori, I totes forgot you were even here! You were, like, awfully quiet for a while!" Getting up from her sewing machine, Leni showed Lori the garment that she had made. "It's a haori coat," Leni explained, "I really like the one that Aggro wears, so I asked him about it, and he told me about haori coats. I looked them up on the internet, found a bunch of different kinds that all looked pretty, took some notes and made some sketches, and proceeded to make one for myself!"

Leni slipped her homemade haori on, twirled around in place, and said as she faced Lori, "What do you think, Lori?"

"It's very lovely," Lori remarked, "But isn't Aggro's a bit longer than that?"

"Yeah, but I thought the waist length ones were cuter," Leni said, "Although if I had the material for it, I'd totes go for making one as long as Aggro's." After taking her haori off, Leni asked, "Hey Lori, while we're, like, on the subject, what sort of music do you think Aggro likes?"

"This again?" Lori said in a mildly unamused tone, "Seriously, Leni. Ever since you and Luna came to watch the golf game my team had before the game where I used Allison's golf club, you've been thinking about Aggro, rather than helping me figure out how to convince Allison to join the varsity golf team. You need to focus!"

"Sorry," Leni replied in a mildly guilty tone, looking down to the floor in shame.

Lori mentally facepalmed, realizing that she had just made one of her siblings upset, something that she was wanting to avoid. "No, Leni, no," Lori began in a gentle, apologetic tone, "It's not your fault. I'm just a little frustrated with things that are going on, and I snapped at you. I should be the one to apologize here, not you." Walking over to Leni, Lori stood in front of her younger sister, gently laid her hands down on Leni's shoulders, and looked her right in the eyes. "I'm sorry, Leni," Lori said.

With something of a cute giggle, Leni said, "Apology accepted." The fashionable loud sibling the threw her arms around Lori and drew her into a hug. Lori didn't know what to make of her younger sister randomly drawing her into a hug like this, but the hug did tell Lori one thing.

She was making more progress on reconnecting with her younger siblings.

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER TEN

Author's notes:

Another breather chapter seems like a good idea at the time, and I think this is the first chapter that doesn't see a physical appearance from Lincoln. Anywho, the next chapter should see a return to the main plot, which should hopefully include Lincoln making progress on recovering from the ordeal that he went through. He may even to see at least one more Loud as a family member again.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image

Chapter eleven: Surprise Pardon

Lincoln was sitting in the living room of his ex-family's house one day in Royal Woods, Michigan. He was skimming through a comic book while Lucy, Lola and Lana, the only family members who Lincoln had forgiven so far, were watching cartoons. Lincoln wasn't even paying attention to the cartoon that the girls were watching, but the white-haired boy highly doubt that the girls would watch some raunchy cartoon that was rated far too high for younger elementary school-aged children such as them.

When the cartoon went to commercial break, the girls started talking amongst themselves. "Hey Lucy, Lana," Lola began, "Anything interesting happening?"

"Lynn mentioned something about student body elections at Royal Woods Middle School," Lucy replied, "I don't know much beyond that, although I think we can ask either Lynn or Luan whenever one of them gets back."

"Student body elections?" Lana asked.

"Imagine if Royal Woods Middle School was the United States," Lucy began to explain, "And the students taking part in the student body elections are presidential candidates."

"…So, whoever wins the student body elections at Lynn's and Luan's school becomes president of the students at the school?" Lana asked.

"Sort of," Lucy replied, "It's a bit more complicated than that."

"Why can't the candidates do something a whole lot simpler to determine who becomes president of the students," Lana remarked, "Like wrestling or bare-knuckle boxing each other?"

"I'm pretty sure that if that were the way the student body elections were determined, then Lynn would end up as the new student president at her school," Lincoln deadpanned, having heard just enough of what his sisters were saying to follow the conversation. Having heard their older brother speak up, Lucy and the twins all turned to face him.

"It _would_ make things easier for her if that were the case," Lola remarked, sounding like she agreed wholeheartedly with Lincoln.

"Well I don't think that any of us will have to worry about either Lynn or Luan becoming a school-level politician," Lucy said in her usual emotionless monotone, "Because Lynn also said something about her, Luan and Ulfric helping Benny, who's running for student president."

"Benny?" Lincoln repeated in a mildly confused tone, "Wait, you mean Luan's crush?"

"Yeah, him," Lucy replied in a confirming tone, "From what Lynn said, things are looking good for Benny due to a lack of other students competing for the same-" The gothic Loud sibling was cut off when the front door of the Loud family's house was thrown open, letting Luan, Benny, Ulfric and a clearly steamed Lynn walk in.

"What in the hell does that bastard think he's doing?!" Lynn nearly exclaimed at the top of her lungs, "He's got some nerve!"

"Relax, Lynn," Luan said, "There's no way that Benny will lose the elections to him, not with you, me and Ulfric backing him up."

"Your sister has a point," Ulfric remarked to Lynn, "And keep in mind that he still carries some of the stigma that resulted from when his team was disqualified from that one game where they played against your team. I doubt a lot of the students at our school will trust him."

Having heard the commotion that the four middle schoolers were making, Lincoln and his little sisters looked over to see what was going on. "Hey Lynn, Luan," Lincoln called out, getting the older kids to turn and see Lincoln and the younger Loud girls, "What's going on here? You guys sound like something dumb just happened."

"That's because something dumb _did_ happen, Lincoln," Lynn replied, "That jerk Francisco is running in the student body elections at Royal Woods Middle School!"

"Really?" Lincoln said, surprised to hear of this turn of events. From what Lincoln remembered about him, Francisco did not seem to be the kind of person to do something like compete in a student body election. Might Francisco's budding rivalry with Chandler have something to do with this?

"Well here's hoping that Benny creams him in the primaries," Lola said, pumping a fist into the air, "Jerks like Francisco are jerks!"

"Umm, thanks," Benny replied, a bit taken back by the support Lola was giving him.

"Is anyone else running in the student body elections?" Lincoln asked.

"A boy named Jack and a girl named Kendra," Benny replied, "And every person running besides myself has someone running with them as a running mate."

"You haven't picked your running mate yet, Benny?" Luan asked, looking a bit confused.

"Well I was thinking about asking Ulfric if he was game," Benny remarked. Patting Ulfric on the shoulder, Benny continued, "He's a solid guy from what I've gotten to know about him so far."

"Ha, you flatter me," the Swedish boy remarked, "And you are more of a trustworthy person than that Francisco person you're running against." Giving Benny a clap on his shoulder, Ulfric said, "Sure thing, Benny. I'll join you."

"Okay, you guys," Luan said as she clapped her hands together, "We've got to plan out how Benny's going to win this thing!"

"You mean establish his campaign platform?" Lola asked.

"Yeah, that," Luan replied as she pointed in a commending manner at her younger sister. The four middle schoolers then went upstairs to one of the bedrooms to discuss the plan for Benny's bid to win the student body elections. After they were gone, Lincoln and his little sisters turned back around.

"Wow, student body elections," Lana said, "Sounds like fun."

"Better you than me," Lincoln remarked dryly, "Sorry, but stuff like that just doesn't sound like my cup of tea. I don't really see myself as much of the type to run for any sort of office."

"But you do hope that Benny will win, right?" Lola asked, "I mean, Lynn and Luan are directly working with Benny to help him win, so if Benny wins, that means our sisters w-"

" _Your_ sisters, Lola," Lincoln clarified, "You, Lana and Lucy are the only sisters that I'm aware that I have." The three younger Loud kids all looked a bit disappointed, having been reminded that their older brother is still resentful of most of their family overall. Even though Lucy and the twins had all been forgiven, they were still guilty of the roles that they played that contributed to Lincoln running away.

"…Still," Lincoln continued, prompting the younger girls to look up, "If the alternative is Chandler's new rival winning, then yeah, I'll be rooting for Benny." Hearing their older brother say this brought a measure of relief to Lucy and the twins, who all smiled. "But anywho, let's leave that business to Lynn, Luan and their friends," Lincoln said, "We're students at a different school than them. We should focus on what's happening at our school."

"Yeah, that does make sense," Lucy replied as the cartoons just got off of commercial break. Seeing that their animated programming just came back on, Lucy and the twins turned their attention to it. Lincoln, smiling in mild amusement at his younger siblings, picked his comic book back up and resumed reading. It was a new issue of Ace Savvy, and Lincoln wanted to make sure that he gave the latest issue of the world's savviest crimefighter's exploits a thorough read through.

* * *

"Hey, Lincoln! You wanna come to my softball game today?"

Lynn caught her younger brother in the hallway at their family's house one morning before one of her sports games. Out of everyone in Lynn's family, Lincoln is the only one who has yet to come to one of her games to support her, and she really wanted Lincoln to be there. Lynn noticed her brother grumble something to himself before he spoke up.

Sighing in a resigned tone, Lincoln said, "Sorry, Lynn, but I just can't. I've been to things our sisters have had non-stop ever since this month began, and I'm just tired. I was planning on just staying home today, read some comics, and maybe catch on some sleep that I've missed due to the aforementioned events our sisters had."

"Oh, come on!" Lynn said in a tone of complaint, "My team in on a win streak here! Don't you wanna see me cream the competition, little bro?"

"Maybe another time, Lynn," Lincoln said, his tone sounding tired, "Just…just not today, alright?" The sporty Loud sibling was annoyed, and a little bit dejected, that her little brother didn't want to come out to her game and be there for her. Lynn wanted Lincoln there, even if she had to use the baseball bat she had with her to make him come, and Lynn, in a rare moment of weakness on her part, was sorely tempted to use the bat in such a way.

…But just as she began to raise it, the hitting end of the bat barely an inch above the hallway floor, Lynn suddenly stopped short when she realized what she was about to do; she was about to _threaten_ her little brother, with physical violence, into doing something he just said he isn't in the mood to do. That made Lynn no better than the bullies she protected her siblings from. The sporty Loud sibling's grip on her bat's handle slipped, allowing the sports equipment to clatter to the hallway floor. The slipping of Lynn's bat caught Lincoln's attention.

"Lynn?" Lincoln said in a mildly concerned tone, "Are you okay?"

"I…" Lynn began, but she stopped short, then furiously shook her head. Taking a breath to try and steady herself, Lynn said, "I'm sorry, Lincoln. Yeah, I can understand you wanting some time to unwind. Going to events the rest of our siblings had can be tiring." Lynn bent over to pick up her fallen bat, straightened up, then patted Lincoln on the shoulder. "…Yeah, hopefully you can come out to the next game," Lynn said, "Sorry for trying to be pushy just now."

Lincoln was confused by his sporty older sister's sudden change in attitude, but the apology, plus Lynn relenting and letting him unwind like he wanted, put a small but appreciative smile on his face. "Thanks, Lynn," Lincoln replied, "Good luck at your game."

"Thanks, bro," Lynn replied with a smile as she headed downstairs to finish up getting ready to head off to her softball game. The sporty Loud may have wished that her little brother would have come out to support her, but she respected that he needed some down time. After all, with a family as big as theirs, they can get worn out rather quick trying to support each other all the time. A bit of rest and relaxation was needed from time to time.

…

The softball game ended in favor of the opposing team. As Lynn rode in the passenger seat of Vanzilla, bummed over her team's loss, she thought that maybe it was a good thing Lincoln wasn't there to see her make a fool of herself. Although…maybe if Lincoln _was_ there, then his presence might have been a good luck charm, giving Lynn just the luck boost that she needed for her team to-

No, that made no sense, Lynn thought as she shook her head gently to rid her mind of the trail of thought that it was about to follow. Before the game that her team lost today, her team had won six games in a row, and Lincoln didn't come out to any of those games. Lincoln didn't come to the games where Lynn won, and Lincoln certainly wasn't at the game where she lost. That means that Lincoln's being at a game was irrelevant if Lynn won or lost a game.

"You okay, sport?" Lynn Sr., the one who was driving Vanzilla at the time, asked as he noticed his sporty daughter and the child named after him shake her head, "You're not upset that you lost, are you?"

"Well, I'd be lying if said that I wasn't upset about that," Lynn admitted, "But I…I was about to blame Lincoln for my team losing." Sighing, Lynn said, "I was thinking that if Lincoln was at the game to support me, then my team wouldn't have lost. But we won the last six games before this one, and Lincoln wasn't at any of them."

"Well sport, Lincoln did have to go to some grave-digging competition that Lucy was in," Lynn Sr. began, "And he also had to go to a fashion thing of Leni's that I think was for charity, and he went to that tournament where Lori's varsity golf team played against the varsity golf team of another school, so your brother understandably had his plate rather full." Noticing that his daughter still seemed a bit bummed, Lynn Sr. said, "There's always the next game, Lynn Jr."

"Dad, I…" Lynn said as her voice started to break out of regret, "…I almost threatened Lincoln into coming to today's game."

"You almost did what?" Lynn Sr. said in a shocked tone, not believing what he was hearing.

"I almost threatened Lincoln!" Lynn nearly exclaimed as tears started to well up in the corners of her eyes, "I kept getting annoyed with how Lincoln never came to any of my games, so I was going to threaten him into coming today!" Curling up into a fetal position on the seat she was in, Lynn rest her forehead against her knees as she sobbed, "What's…what wrong with me, dad?"

"…Not as much as there would have been if you actually did go through with bullying your younger brother like that," Lynn Sr. remarked, "Junior, I can't say that I'm proud of what you were considering doing. Threatening your little brother, or any of your siblings, is one of the absolute last things I ever want to hear about you doing." Lynn knew that her father would say something along these lines, although knowing that it would happen didn't make hearing about it any easier for her. It also stung Lynn when her father referred to what she was considering doing as a form of bullying; she really _wasn_ ' _t_ any better than those bullies after all.

"…But what I can say that I'm proud of," Lynn Sr. continued, getting Lynn to look up at him in the process, "Is that you realized what you were doing, what you were about to do, and that you stopped yourself before you crossed that line. That proves that you have a lot of strength as a person, Junior. Good job."

Still a bit emotionally conflicted due to what she had almost done, Lynn nonetheless smiled, a small and mildly sad but ultimately appreciative smile, due to the words of encouragement she was getting from her father. Wiping a tear from the corner of her right eye, Lynn said, "Thanks, dad. Sorry for being so weird and everything right now, but I still can't believe that I almost became what I protect my siblings from."

"Yeah, I can understand what you're getting at," Lynn Sr. replied, "I mean, I'm pretty sure that Lincoln, Lucy, Lana, Lola, Lisa and Lily wouldn't really app-"

"Who said that it was just limited to protecting my _younger_ siblings?" Lynn said, interrupting her dad in the process, "Did you not hear what that one jerk said to Luna while she was on a date with Sam, and what I did to said jerk in retaliation?"

"Wait a minute," Lynn Sr. said in a tone that was partly surprised but mostly confused, "I thought that it was Lori who threw that guy head-first into a nearly full garbage can."

With the biggest smile she had since before she left home earlier for the softball game today, Lynn said, "Nope."

…

Lynn couldn't believe it; her team had not only made a recovery from their earlier loss, but they did so by scoring a doubleheader! They were heading to the playoffs! To make things even better for the sporty Loud sibling, her entire family was at the game, meaning they had all seen her win it big time! As her team cheered down on the field, Lynn looked over to the bleachers where the audience sat, and after a quick scan, Lynn found her family.

Lincoln was sitting there, between Luna and Leni.

Having seen her family, she gave them a quick wave before her teammates swept her up into some celebratory running around and all-around revelry. Lynn and a teammate of hers even dumped a cooler of water over the head of their coach in celebration. Yeah, this is how Lynn liked things; her team winning, and her family being there to see them win.

No threatening them into coming necessary.

…

"GAAAAAAAA!" Lynn exclaimed suddenly as she jolted awake, surprising Luan, Ulfric and Benny in the process; the four middle schoolers were in Luan and Luna's room, brainstorming about what to do to help with Benny's campaign in the student body elections. At some point, Lynn drifted to sleep while Luan and the boys were talking.

"…Did you sleep well?" Ulfric asked Lynn, a hint of knowing amusement in his tone.

"I…" Lynn began, but she stopped short and shook her head. "…It's nothing," Lynn continued, "So anywho, what did I miss while I was out?"

* * *

A few days later, there was some sort of school dance event over at Royal Woods Middle School. Lynn, after much internal debate, finally managed to work up the courage to ask Ulfric if he'd go to the dance with her. Ulfric, although he was at first confused because he thought that in the United States it was boys who asked girls to events like the dance, nonetheless accepted.

Luan was a bit less nervous when it came to asking Benny, and although Benny accepted, he had to cancel at the last minute because of an out-of-nowhere family emergency that popped up. Although upset, Luan nonetheless understood, even wishing Benny's family luck upon hearing that his grandaunt was rushed to the hospital due to kidney troubles. Luckily for Luan, her friend Maggie was available, so the two of them went to the dance as friends.

"…I don't really think that Benny should worry about that Francisco guy," Maggie remarked to Luan in a conversational tone as they stood off to the side near the table with the punch bowl, "Francisco is just small potatoes." After draining her cup of punch dry, Maggie continued, "Now _Kendra_ , on the other hand, is the opponent that Benny should worry about. That girl's brain is a bag full of cats. You could smell crazy on her."

"You've…run into Kendra before?" Luan asked, a bit surprised that her friend had such a view on some seemingly random person at their school.

"Luan, girl, trust me," Maggie began, "When you've been doing the social ladder tango with the student population of our school for as long as I have, you'll learn who the crazies are, and how to best avoid them." Confused, Luan nonetheless decided to follow her friend's warnings, figuring that keeping an eye on Kendra might be in the best interest of Benny's campaign for student body president.

…

Over in another area of the gymnasium of Royal Woods Middle School, where the dance was being held, Lynn was talking to her mother Rita, one of the adult chaperones that was needed for the dance. "Aww, isn't this the cutest thing ever!" Rita said in a mildly gushing manner, "My daughter asked her boyfriend to the dance!"

"Ulfric isn't my boyfriend!" Lynn said in an embarrassed manner, "…Well, not yet, at least."

"She's got a point, Mrs. Loud," Lincoln remarked in a cool yet neutral tone; due to the fact that he would have otherwise been left home alone, Lincoln had to come along with Rita. Looking to his ex-family members, Lincoln continued, "I'm pretty sure that Lynn would have brought it up if she and Ulfric were going out."

"Y-yes, Lincoln, you got a point," Rita agreed, hesitating just a bit upon hearing her own son, yet again, refer to her as Mrs. Loud rather than as his mother. It was something that stung painfully at Rita's heart, mostly because she knew full well that she had played a role in making it happen.

"So, Lynn," Lincoln began, getting his sporty ex-sister to focus on him, "How's that student body election thing that Luan's crush is taking part in going?"

"Oh, the election?" Lynn said, her tone mildly surprised but mostly confused by the sudden change in topic, "Oh, umm, it's going fine. Last I heard, that Jack guy currently has the least amount of support, so at least Benny has a chance."

"That's nice," Lincoln remarked, the barest hint of interest seeping through his otherwise cool tone, "Glad to see that the team that you're on isn't currently coming in last place. Anywho, I don't suppose you know where the nearest bathroom is, do you? I think that I've had one cup of punch too many."

"If you go up the stairs on the right-hand side of the stage," Lynn began as she pointed to the stage that was in the gymnasium, "And you take a right, walk straight past the racks of folding chairs, head through the doorway with the green exit sign above it, then take a left, you'll find the bathrooms."

"Thanks," Lincoln replied as he headed off to follow Lynn's directions. After Lincoln had disappeared into the hidden area off to the side of the stage, Rita turned to look at Lynn.

"Is…is Lincoln starting to get along with you girls again?" Rita asked, sounding as if she were a bit hesitant to ask.

"Well, he's forgiven Lucy and the twins, for starters," Lynn began to explain, "And from what they told me, Lincoln may soon extend that to Lori and Lisa as well."

"So, he…" Rita began, but stopped short, took a breath to steady herself, then continued, "…He's starting to trust us again. That's good." Sighing in a resigned tone, Rita said, "How could we have let our imaginations run wild on us like that? How could we have treated Lincoln like that? Who knows what Lincoln might be doing right now if it hadn't been for all of the coincidences that led to Lori finding him?"

"He would probably be hating all of us right now," Lynn remarked dryly, and with more than a hint of regret in her tone, "Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he actually _was_ hating all of us aside from Lucy, the twins, Pop-Pop and Aunt Ruth." Rita couldn't say anything, although she felt that if her own son, her _only_ son, hated her because of her role in what happened to him, then she had it coming. Some mother she was.

…

"You want me to do what?"

Aside from Rita, there were a few other adults acting as chaperones for the dance at Royal Woods Middle School. One such adult was Chandler's mom, and due to reasons similar to why Rita brought Lincoln along, Chandler's mom had to bring Chandler along. Chandler himself was talking to a middle school-aged girl that was surprised by what Chandler was saying to her, but the tone of her surprise indicated that she was familiar with Chandler to some extent.

The girl herself had white hair with pale green shading near the ends, and the hair was tied into twin pigtails, with each pigtail adorned with three fairly large green beads. The girl wore a white capelet (with green trim) that had a light fur collar, a green long-sleeved blouse, a white frilly skirt, white stockings that reached over her knees, and green shoes. The girl's eyes were also a bright and vibrant shade of emerald green.

"It's very simple, cousin," Chandler said to the green-clad girl, who was apparently his cousin, "I need you to find either that Benny guy, that Jack guy, or that Kendra girl, get the person that you managed to get ahold of to follow you to where I got something set up, and get them to wait there until my friends and I carry out our plan."

Chandler's cousin, with her left hand on her hip and her right hand to gesture at Chandler, remarked in a mildly confused tone, "And you're sure that this will screw over the guy whose dad is competing with Uncle for that position at the sewage treatment plant?"

"The boys already got some stuff we can plant as evidence to make it look like Francisco is behind it, yes," Chandler replied in a casual laid-back tone that sounded like it was being reassuring, "Don't worry, Kara. This'll be guaranteed to help our family out."

"…Alright, Chandler," replied the cousin, apparently named Kara, as she turned around to go look for any of the three students who Chandler just asked her to go look for. A few minutes later, Kara came back to Chandler, who was hanging near where he was at when he sent Kara off to find either Benny, Kendra or Jack. With a gentle shake of her head, Kara said, "Sorry, cousin, but I couldn't find either Benny, Kendra or Jack."

"Are you kidding me?" Chandler said, a bit shocked by the turn of events.

With a gentle shake of her head, Kara continued in an apologetic tone, "I'm sorry, but I asked around, and everyone that I talked to said that neither Benny, Kendra or Jack came to the dance today. If it helps, a few of the students that I had talked to said that they saw that Francisco had come to the dance."

"No, Kara," Chandler said in a mildly strained tone, "For my plan to work, it has to look like Francisco is the guilty party, and that would be rather difficult if Francisco himself is the one that fell for the plan. It'd be ideal if one of Francisco's opponents in the student body elections was the one to fall for the plan, because then people would be quick to-"

"How about someone on the team of one of Francisco's opponents?" Kara suggested, interrupting Chandler in the process.

"…Go on," Chandler replied, his interest piqued by his cousin's suggestion.

"Although no one saw either Benny, Kendra or Jack themselves at the dance," Kara began, "A few students said that they did see Kendra's and Benny's respective running mates here. I also personally saw that Luan and Lynn Loud, who are part of Benny's team, are here as well."

"Loud, huh?" Chandler remarked, "Huh, now why does that name strike me as familiar?" After a few seconds of consideration, Chandler said in a dismissive tone, "Nah. It's obviously nothing important if I don't bother to remember anything about it." Gesturing to Kara with his right hand, Chandler said, "Yeah, go ahead and get one of the people you figure would work to follow you and wait at the spot so my friends and I can carry out our plan." Chandler's cousin nodded once in an affirmative manner, understanding her order, before she turned around to begin helping to advance her family's position.

* * *

Meanwhile, off in the area to the right-hand side of the stage in the RWMS gymnasium, Chandler's two primary goon-friends were hiding in waiting. "Dude, what that seriously Larry that we just saw walk on by?" the first goon-friend said to the second in a hushed whisper, his tone clearly conveying surprise mixed with more than a hint of worry, "Dude, what are we going to do if he finds us?"

"He didn't see us when he walked by," the second goon-friend replied, "So as long as we keep quiet and keep behind some cover and in shadows, there's no way Larry should see us. Besides, we got other things to worry about, remember? When one of the students that Francisco guy is running against comes by, we have to spring the plan." The second goon-friend pointed over to something that was off to the side somewhat, getting his friend to look up; there was some sort of trap set up. The second goon-friend then held up a rope for the first goon-friend to see.

"A good thing we found enough stuff to make sure that the plan won't cause anything really bad but still be rather serious," the second goon-friend said, "And we can't forget the part where we make sure that we plant the evidence to make it look like Francisco's behind it."

"…I'm still a little rattled that Larry's here for some odd reason," the first goon-friend said, "I mean, do you not remember that stare-down that he gave to Chandler? Did you not hear how Larry single-handedly made that third-grade bully Biff back down? And remember when Larry came running out to the playground when that little girl trounced you, me and Chandler on her own? I'm not sure if you noticed, but I saw the look on Larry's face back then, and he looked like he was ready to go to war!" Shuddering in a way that clearly conveyed fright, the first goon-friend said, "I think that Larry's managed to accomplish the impossible, and has become even _more_ terrifying than Ronnie Anne!"

"Dude, try to calm down," the second goon-friend said, "Larry doesn't know that we're here, and so long as you follow my lead, he's not going to find out."

Slowly breathing in and out, the first goon-friend said, "Alright, man."

"Good," the second goon-friend said, "Now all we have to do is-" The second goon-friend was cut off when he felt his pocket vibrate. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a phone and saw that he had gotten a text, which he proceeded to read; _Change of plans_ , _I_ ' _m bringing someone who's connected to Benny_ ' _s party to fall for the plan_ , _get ready_.

"…Look's like Chandler's cousin Kara is bringing by the person to fall for the plan," the second goon-friend remarked as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. To his fellow, the second goon-friend said, "Get ready." The first goon-friend, still a little spooked by who he saw walk past earlier, was nonetheless ready to work, even carefully and discreetly slipping some printed out campaign posters for Francisco's bid to win student body elections.

* * *

"So," Lynn began as she walked and talked with some random girl from her drama class that she hardly even knew existed, "…Kara, was it? What was it that you wanted to show me again?"

"I spotted what looked like one of those old leather football helmets that were used before the modern hard plastic ones laying on the floor in the off-stage area off to the right-hand side of the stage," Kara explained, "You're good with sports, so I figured that you might get a kick out of seeing it. You may also be able to tell me if I was right about what I saw."

"Huh, well I did see old photos of football players wearing those leather helmet things," Lynn said, "But why didn't you simply grab it and bring it to me?"

"It's under a folding chair rack that's behind some large stage props," Kara explained, "There's no way I'd be able to move all of that stuff on my own."

"Yeah, that does sound reasonable," Lynn replied as she continued to follow Kara. With Lynn following her, Kara smiled a bit to herself on the inside; there really wasn't one of those old leather football helmet things, but Lynn didn't really need to find that out. All she had to do was fall for the plan, then the friends of Kara's cousin Chandler would carry out their part, then before she knew it, everyone in RWMS would view Francisco at an all-time low.

There was a good chance that Francisco himself might be blamed for the plan, rather than a group of students that were Francisco supporters, which Kara thought would be the most likely outcome of this plan, given what was going to happen. Either way, Francisco's rep would be taking a serious hit, and that was the important part.

"So, Kara," Lynn said, snapping Kara's attention back to reality, "Where is it?"

"Oh," Kara replied, "It should be somewhere-"

"Lynn?" Lincoln's voice called out, getting Lynn and Kara to look over and see the white-haired Loud boy standing there, having returned from using the bathroom. Over from where they hid, Chandler's two goon-friends saw that Lincoln was standing there.

"Dude," the first goon-friend hissed quietly in a clearly worried tone, "Larry's here! We're in trouble now!"

"Man, you've got to relax," the second goon-friend whispered to his fellow, "There's no way we're going to be found out so long as you-"

"I'm doing it now!" the first goon-friend said in a hushed whisper, taking the rope end that his fellow showed him earlier and giving it a good tug, prompting the second goon-friend to go wide-eyed with surprise and a bit of shock.

Over where Lincoln was talking to Lynn and Kara, the white-haired boy said to his sporty ex-sister in a mildly suspicious tone, "What are you doing with your friend here, Lynn?"

"She was just going to show me something, Lincoln," Lynn replied, her tone sounding like she was regretting something. Kara noticed the odd tone, but she had no idea why Lynn would be speaking to this boy in such a regretful tone. Kara decided that it was a non-factor and proceeded to try and go through with helping her little cousin's plan along.

"It's one of those old timey leather football helmet things," Kara said to the sole Loud boy, "I figured that she'd get a kick out of it since she's into sports."

"Yeah," Lincoln remarked in a nod of agreement, "That does sound like Ly-" Lincoln was cut off when he and the two middle school girls heard some creaking from off to the side. Looking over, the three kids saw a large pile of stuff that was piled in a way so that just a little bit of outside effort would be enough to make it all fall over. Seeing some of the objects in the pile shift around a bit, Lincoln could tell that unless he got out of the way quickly, he'd be buried in an avalanche of-

"LINCOLN, LOOK OUT!" Before anyone knew what was going on, Lincoln felt himself getting shoved out of the way. He ended up falling over and rolling a bit before he knocked into the door with the green exit sign overhead, which Lincoln had closed upon returning from the restroom. Right as Lincoln slammed into the closed door, he heard a large commotion of noises clamoring out in a booming symphony, and immediately afterwards, he began to hear the panicked shouts of people out in the gymnasium.

"Ow…" Lincoln groaned as he straightened himself out, "…What the heck just-" Lincoln stopped short when, upon looking over to where he was standing previously, there was now a large pile of various odds and ends, all of which had fallen over due to being overbalanced. Lincoln also saw that the green-dressed girl was picking stuff off of the pile and tossing them to the side, in a frantic attempt to unbury an unconscious Lynn, who was sticking half-way out from underneath the pile while lying face down on the floor. There was also a somewhat large wooden crate pinning down on Lynn's left shoulder blade.

"Holy crap," Lincoln said in a quiet tone of shock as he was quickly hit by the situation. Getting up and running over so he could try to help the green-dressed girl, Lincoln shouted, "LYNN!"

* * *

"Mmm," Lynn moaned quietly to herself as she started to stir awake. When her eyes were open enough, the sporty Loud sibling saw, to her mild confusion, that she was sitting on the sofa at her family's house. "…Did they bring me home to recover?" Lynn said aloud to herself as she hopped off of the sofa.

Lynn looked around the living room, and aside from the surprising lack of volume in the house (the Louds had a reputation for living up to their family name, after all), nothing was off to the athletic thirteen-year-old. "…Hello?" Lynn called out a bit tentatively, "Is anybody-"

"Lynn, you're awake!" a younger male voice called out, cutting Lynn off midsentence and making her look over to the source of the noise. To Lynn's confusion, she saw Lincoln come running over to her; Lynn was confused because Lincoln was roughly as tall as the twins, and rather than his usual outfit of an orange polo and blue pants, he was wearing an orange shirt and a pair of overalls.

" _That_ ' _s the outfit Lincoln wore back when he was little_ ," Lynn thought as the mini-Lincoln reached her. Shaking her head gently, Lynn said to the mini Lincoln that was in front of her, "Lincoln, why are you shorter, and why are you wearing a pair of Lana's overalls?"

"I'm short because I'm five," the mini-Lincoln replied, "Also, who's Lana?"

Lynn was now confused; her little brother was suddenly five-years-old again, and apparently Lana didn't exist. The sporty Loud sibling had no idea what was going on. But something else was on her mind; if Lincoln really _was_ five-years-old again, does that mean he doesn't remember what she did to him? How she decried him as bad luck, which ultimately prompted him to run away? Did he remember any of the bad things she ever did to him? Could…could this a chance to try to set things right with her little brother?

"Lincoln," Lynn began in a mildly serious tone, getting her now even younger brother to look up at her, "Do…do you remember if I ever did anything bad to you?"

"Anything bad?" the mini-Lincoln repeated in a confused tone, before he proceeded to give consideration to his older sister's question. After a few seconds, the mini-Lincoln replied with a mildly grumpy look on his face, "Yeah, you took the last brownie snack cake, even though mommy said that it was for me!"

"Anything else you can remember?" Lynn asked, a hint of concern in her tone.

"Mmm…" mini-Lincoln said as he gave Lynn's question some thought, "…Nope, you just took my snack cake. You owe me a new one, by the way."

Lynn was immediately hit by a wave of emotions; regret, guilt, sadness, but over all of that combined, Lynn felt relief. Her little brother, oddly changed as he was, was not upset with her beyond something that can be very easily remedied. The sporty Loud sibling could not help but start crying, softly mind you, due to the immense relief that she felt. Crying that the mini-Lincoln noticed right away.

"Umm, Lynn?" mini-Lincoln said in a concerned tone, "Are you okay? If it helps, you don't really have to get me a snack cake."

"No, no," Lynn replied, "It's not that, little bro. It's…something else I had to deal with." Walking up to the mini-Lincoln, Lynn reached down and gently ruffled the top of his head. "Come on, Linc," Lynn said, "Let's look into getting you that snack cake."

"Okay!" mini-Lincoln said cheerfully as he proceeded to follow his older sister into the kitchen.

Lynn had to wipe a tear away from her eye as her little brother followed her. He didn't have the cool indifferent tone he had taken to using since returning home after having run away, he wasn't showing any scorn towards her, and he overall just seemed to be happy. Happy to be around his older sister.

Lynn was happy that her little brother wanted to be around her, too.

…

"Mmm…" Lynn moaned quietly as she started coming to, and after a few seconds, the sporty Loud sibling was fully awake. The last thing that Lynn remembered was that she was leading her de-aged little brother into the kitchen to try and find a snack cake for him, and now, she is laying in a hospital bed. Well, she _was_ laying in the bed; after waking up, Lynn sat upright in the hospital bed as she looked around her surroundings.

It was a standard room with a hospital bed, a bedside table on her right, a table off to the one side of the room, a chair in the far-right corner (from Lynn's point of view) of the room, and a TV suspended from the wall so that Lynn could watch TV while laying in the bed. To Lynn's piqued interest, Lori was sitting in the chair in the far-right corner. The oldest Loud sibling must be here to try and keep an eye on her, and was currently asleep.

Lynn also felt a bit of pain in the back of her head, prompting her to hold her hand to the back of her head. When she did this, she noticed that her hair was down, allowing it to flow over her back; looking over to the bedside table, Lynn saw that the ponytail she used to bind her hair up was laying next to a small vase.

" _So_ … _that was just_ … _just a dream_ …" Lynn thought as she recalled her experiences before coming to in the hospital room she was in. Looking over to Lori, Lynn shouted, "Hey, Lori!" The noise Lynn made was enough to stir her older sister awake, and after yawning and stretching a bit, Lori looked over and saw that Lynn was awake.

"Lynn!" Lori nearly exclaimed upon seeing Lynn, clearly sounding relieved. Getting up and dashing over to Lynn, Lori asked, "Are you okay?"

"Well other than feeling like I got hit by a taco truck, I'm pretty go-" Lynn began, but she was cut off when she felt a sharp pain in her left shoulder blade. Quick reaching her hand over to her left shoulder, Lynn said through a hiss of pain, "Yeah, that smarts."

"Well at least you're going to be okay," Lori remarked, "Mom said that some girl that she and some others at the school saw trying to help Lincoln unbury you said that she saw a few kids rush out before anyone else could see them. The girl said that she didn't get a very good look at them, but she said that she did hear them say something about screwing up trying to make the competition easier for Francisco."

Pulling something out of a rear pocket on her shorts, Lori removed a folded-up sheet of paper, unfolded it, and handed it to Lynn. It was one of the printed campaign posters for Francisco's bid to win student body elections at RWMS. "…Luan said that she literally found one of these on the floor where that stuff fell down on you while you were loaded onto a stretcher and brought here," Lori explained. As she looked at the sheet of paper, Lynn began to feel mild regret.

"…And to think…" Lynn said, her tone a mix of regret and simmering anger, as her hand that held the printed poster tightened, causing the paper to scrunch up slightly. Lori could hear the crinkling of the paper as Lynn's hand that held it tightened into a fist. Looking up to Lori, Lynn asked in a worried tone, "Is Lincoln okay? I saw that the stuff that fell on me was about to fall on him, so I pushed him out of the-"

"Lincoln's fine," Lori replied in a gentle and understanding tone, interrupting Lynn in the process, "He was a bit upset when we found him and that other girl trying to unbury you, but he calmed down significantly when the medics said that you were just knocked out and would be fine after some treatment here at Royal Woods General." With a bit of an amused smile, Lori added, "By the way, Lincoln literally asked mom if you could be un-grounded."

"I was…" Lynn began, but stopped short upon remembering what Lori was talking about; the morning after Lincoln came back, her parents decided to let Lincoln decide how she was to be punished. Lincoln eventually let them go for Rita's original plan of grounding Lynn for two months, with the suggested punishments offered by Leni, Luna and Lola all being declined. Not Lisa's, for some odd reason, although Lisa has yet to use Lynn as a test subject since then.

"…Oh yeah," Lynn said quietly, "I'm still technically grounded."

" _Were_ grounded, Lynn," Lori corrected, "You _were_ grounded. Mom agreed to ungrounding you. She's literally going to tell dad about it later."

"…But why-"

"Did you not hear me?" Lori interrupted, "Lincoln asked for it. You…" Taking a breath to steady herself, Lori continued, "If it wasn't for you, then Lincoln literally would have been in this position himself instead of you. You…" Having to take another steadying breath, Lori went on, "…You saved your younger brother."

"Don't you mean _our_ younger brother?" Lynn asked, sounding confused.

Gently shaking her head, Lori explained in a mildly somber tone, "Lincoln literally hasn't forgiven me yet for my part in all of us driving him away yet." Sighing, Lori continued, "Like I was literally going to say earlier, Lincoln is sitting in a chair outside of this room, waiting for any updates on you." Walking over to the door, Lori said, "I'm heading out to give Lincoln the go ahead to come on in."

Lynn watched as her older sister walked out of the hospital room, leaving her alone. But the sporty Loud sibling was alone for only a second or so, because Lincoln then peeked into the room, and upon seeing Lynn awake and sitting up in the hospital bed, he was at the door just long enough to close it (he _was_ about to make some noise, after all), rushed over to her, threw his arms around her, and started crying into her right shoulder.

Lincoln throwing his arms around her like that made the pain in Lynn's left shoulder blade sting a bit again, but Lynn was so shocked by what was going on that she didn't even notice it. When Lynn finally processed what was happening, her expression changed from stunned shock to a sad, somber expression.

Slowly, Lynn wrapped her own arms around Lincoln to begin returning the hug. Lynn could tell that this wasn't a dream; the back of her head still hurt and she was starting to finally notice the sharp pain in her left shoulder blade again. The physical pain was going to be a bother to Lynn, and she expected that the part about her shoulder was going to hinder her when it came to sports. But all of that was far from Lynn's mind at the moment.

She was Lincoln's sister again.

Lynn began to cry.

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER ELEVEN

Author's notes:

…What, you thought that Lynn was going to be the last sibling, maybe even the last of the family overall, to be forgiven? Nope, she's the fourth. In all seriousness, writing the part where Lincoln forgave Lynn for her role in the NSL incident was very difficult, and I'm still not sure if I did it justice. Still, one has got to figure that if Lincoln is able to forgive Lynn, who is arguably the reason why the whole mess even occurred in the first place, then the hope for the rest of the Louds that Lincoln will come to accept them as family again should be pretty solid.

Anywho…wow. This is the longest chapter yet that I've written for this story. Sorry if it dragged on a little bit for you. I guess that I got a bit carried away. I'll try to keep things shorter in the next chapter, which I think will see me adapt more of the collection of one-shots that I mentioned to the setting of this story.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image

Chapter twelve: Sword Path

The Loud kids were having breakfast one day at their family's house in Royal Woods, Michigan. "Are you feeling better, Lynn?" Lori asked, getting Lynn and a few others to look up; very recently, Lynn was hurt in an incident at Royal Woods Middle School where a bunch of stuff fell down onto her in a sort of avalanche that happened in a backstage-like area off to the side of the stage in the RWMS gymnasium, where a school dance was taking place.

"Ehh, it's nothing," Lynn said dismissively, "I've been through worse."

"I literally hesitate to disagree with you on that," Lori remarked dryly, "But seriously, Lynn. I think that you ought to take it easy for a bit."

"She's got a point, Lynn," Lincoln said, a mild hint of concern in his tone. Lynn turned to her side to see her younger brother regard her with a concerned expression. "You were in the hospital for crying out loud," Lincoln reiterated, "I really don't want to see that happen to you, or anyone for that matter, anytime soon."

Lynn relented a bit, touched by the concern her siblings were showing her. Especially Lincoln, who had recently done something that Lynn was expecting would never happen; forgive her for her part in driving him to the point of running away. Lynn was really not expecting that, mostly because it was more or less her fault that the bad luck nonsense from a while ago even took place at all.

"…Sorry, guys," Lynn said, "I guess I do need to learn when to dial it down a notch."

"You aren't the only one, Lynn," Lisa remarked dryly. Turning to regard Luna, Lisa continued, "Wouldn't you agree?" As Luna started to get into an argument with Lisa, their mother Rita came walking into the dining room area. Seeing that some of her kids were arguing, she called everyone's attention to her, quelling any argument that might have happened.

"Hey kids," Rita began, "The local youth group being hosted by the community center is throwing together a football team!"

"That's great, mom!" Lynn said, her interest suddenly piqued.

"It's technically open to most kids, but I figured that you at least would be interested, Lynn," Rita went on as she walked over to where her athletic daughter sat.

"Cool," Lynn remarked, "Hey, I wonder if Ulfric would be interested."

"Lynn, dude, your shoulder," Luna pointed out.

"Oh," Lynn replied, her tone deflating. Slumping back in her seat, Lynn said, "Well there goes that plan."

"And here I thought that this would help to lighten the mood after you got out of the hospital," Rita said in a mildly regretful tone.

"Mom, Lynn literally just got out of the hospital," Lori said, "And you were thinking of letter her get right back into strenuous physical activity?"

"Oh," Rita remarked, realizing that her oldest child had a good point. Grabbing an empty chair at the table and sitting down in it, Rita continued, "I really wasn't thinking there, was I?" As Lori proceeded to try and cheer her mother up, Lincoln was looking around the table at the faces of the other people sitting there. Specifically, he was looking at Lynn's bummed expression and Rita's self-disappointed expression. Lincoln can understand Lynn being bummed; after all, she was currently nursing an injury that would keep her away from her favorite pastime for a little while longer yet.

As for Rita, Lincoln could tell that she was disappointed in herself for screwing up as a parent. …Did she feel this way when she was struck by the realization of having contributed to making him run away? It was bad enough that Rita had screwed up as a parent when it came to what she had helped to put Lincoln through, but by doing so she went back on her word that she would never kick one of them out. It's not that he had forgiven his ex-mother for her part, but there was something in Lincoln that made him not like seeing Rita in the dumps like this.

"…Hey, Mrs. Loud," Lincoln began.

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN LINCOLN GOT HURT?!"

In a move that was half spur of the moment and half attempting to cheer Rita up, Lincoln decided to sign up for the youth football team being hosted by the local community center. He even had some fun working on plays along side some of his fellow teammates, which included Ulfric Aesir, Lynn's friend/current crush, and Andy Ace, the younger brother of Lincoln and Ronnie Anne's friend Astrid. …Why there was such a bizarre range of ages (ten to thirteen) on one team was beyond the white-haired boy, but that was beside the point.

During the first game where Lincoln's team played against the youth football team organized by a community center from outside of Royal Woods, Lincoln was hurt when several kids from the other team dogpiled onto him near the end of the game in an attempt to dogpile onto another kid that was going to score a touchdown. Thankfully, the worst Lincoln got out of it was some bruising, and even more thankfully, Lincoln did not require treatment at the local hospital. None of that stopped Rita from giving the youth football coach a rough time, though.

"It was a total accident, ma'am," the youth football coach said apologetically, "And we contacted the parents of all of the boys that were res-"

"THAT'S STILL NO EXCUSE!" Rita exclaimed at the youth football coach, who was growing steadily more afraid of the angry blonde woman who was yelling at him. It did not help his case that Rita's feelings on the matter were shared by Lynn, Lori, Leni and Luna, all four of which were standing behind Rita, staring down the youth football coach in a manner similar to the Loud family matriarch.

"You are literally one of the worst youth sports coaches ever if you allowed something like this to happen," Lori snapped, "In fact, where's the coach of the team responsible?"

"A group of angry parents from the Royal Woods area are scolding him," the youth football coach explained, hoping that it would help him. Thankfully for him, Rita and her daughters seemed to simmer down somewhat due to hearing this.

"Sorry about this, everyone," Lincoln's voice called out a bit weakly, prompting his ex-sisters, his ex-mother and Lynn to look over and see Lincoln come up, accompanied by Andy and Ulfric, the latter of which was supporting Lincoln due to the white-haired boy being hurt. Andy was, for some reason, wearing a black-and-gold variation of his usual red-and-white outfit.

"You think Lincoln's going to be okay, Ulfric?" Andy asked his fellow teammate in a mildly concerned tone, "I mean, he did take one heck of a beating but lived to tell the tale. He's got a warrior's resilience, that's for sure."

"I myself would be interested in seeing Lincoln continue playing with us," Ulfric remarked to his younger teammate, "He's got speed and respectable stamina, and you raise an excellent point about Lincoln's resilience."

"Lincoln!" Rita exclaimed in a worried tone upon seeing her injured son. Running right over to Lincoln, Rita got down on one knee so that she was level with Lincoln before she proceeded to examine the bruises and mild scrapes on his face. "Oh, I'm so sorry I pushed you into this, sweetie," Rita said as she looked Lincoln over, "I should have tried to find something OH MY GOODNESS YOU'RE BLEEDING!"

Looking on his left forearm, Lincoln saw a minor scrape that was bleeding; not enough to warrant treatment at the hospital, but a bandage wouldn't hurt. "…I highly doubt that it'd kill me," Lincoln remarked dryly, "Besides, it was my idea to join the youth football group, remember?"

"Yes, but only because I was so pushy about trying to get you to exercise in the past," Rita said, her tone clearly conveying guilt.

"Hey mom," Leni began, "Now that you, like, brought it up, I've been meaning to ask you. If your intention was to, like, try to get Linky in shape, why did you sign him up for that football team that one time? Don't you have to have some amount of physical fitness to even do that in the first place? I mean, if you wanted Linky to, like, get in shape, then wouldn't something like track be a better and more logical option?"

"Leni…" Lynn began, but then stopped short as she considered what her ditzy older sister just said. "…Raises an excellent point, mom," Lynn continued as she found what Leni said to have made a lot of sense, "Heck, with all of the running around Lincoln does trying to keep up with everything going on at home, he'd probably be a wiz at track."

"I…did not think of that," Rita replied, her tone indicating that she was struck by a sudden realization. Holding a hand to her forehead, Rita continued, "…Wow. I really dropped the ball on that one, didn't I?"

Lori was about to say something, but she was cut off when everyone heard Allison Ace's voice call out, "There you are, Andy!" At that prompting, everyone turned to see Allison walk up to the group, accompanied by her younger twin brother Aggro and another teenager that looked to be roughly the same age as Luna.

This mystery girl that was with the Ace twins had fair but pale skin, and long black hair whose bangs covered the left eye, leaving the right eye, which was a strong, vibrant and striking shade of burgundy, uncovered; the rest of the long black hair trailed down the girl's back in a single braided ponytail. The girl also wore a black sleeveless girl's blouse, a black skirt that reached her knees, black and white striped arm warmers that reached halfway up her upper arms, black and white striped stockings, and black shoes. The mystery girl was also holding onto a simple staff that, judging by some of the intricate details that could only be seen up close, was of Native American make.

"You played well, little brother," Allison said to Andy, "Surely that means that Odin had seen fit to bless you and your team, allowing you all to win."

"The Allfather's intentions are mysterious to us, are they not?" Ulfric remarked to Allison, getting her attention in the process. Allison nodded in an approving manner at Ulfric before turning her attention back to Andy.

"We played well, and we won," Andy said to Allison, "But one of my teammates was injured when some players on the opposing team tried to tackle our team's quarterback."

Allison quickly shot a look at Lincoln, who was still being looked over by Rita. Allison then shifted her attention to Lori, Leni, Luna and Lynn, who all stood behind their mother. "I take it that this one is one of yours, Lori?" Allison asked the oldest Loud sibling while pointing to the sole Loud boy.

"Yes, that's my little brother Lincoln," Lori replied. Pointing to Andy, Lori asked, "And this is your little brother, I take it?"

"This is Andy, yes," the seventeen-year-old Ace sister replied, "Only ten years of age, yet he already shows promise as a warrior!" Turning her attention to Andy quickly, Allison wore a look of confusion while saying, "How come you're wearing black and gold? Don't you usually wear red and white?"

"It's in the wash, remember?" Andy said to his older sister.

"Oh yeah," Allison replied in a tone of remembrance.

"Great job on winning the game," the mystery girl said to Andy and his teammates, "That goes for all of you."

"Thank you, umm…" Lincoln began, but trailed off due to not knowing the girl's name.

"Oh dude," Luna said as she got Lincoln's attention, "That's Allison and Aggro's younger sister Amy. I share a few classes with her at school."

"Well anywho," Rita began to say to her children, "We ought to get going home now. I'll look into trying to find some safer physical activity for Lincoln tomorrow."

"I can use him as my go-to caddy," Lori offered, "Since the golfing season is kicking up for the varsity golf team, we've been seeing a lot of play recently. Lincoln will be getting plenty of exercise carrying my golf bag for me."

"And I suppose that while you're on the subject, you're going to try to convince me to join your little golf guild again?" Allison remarked in a knowing tone, "Try to get the cherry on the top while you're at it, as it were?"

"Well it wouldn't hurt…" Lori admitted, drawing an amused chuckle out of the oldest female Ace teen. The male Ace teen, on the other hand, was giving Lincoln a look of consideration while everyone's focus was on the two talking seventeen-year-old girls. "Come on, Allison," Lori said right when Aggro came out of his thoughts, "We'd be a shoo-in to win nationals if you join the team!"

"I'm still trying to figure out why Odin had seen fit to give me his blessings whenever I play golf," Allison replied, "If I can figure out the reason why, then I can keep it up because who am I to displease the Allfather?"

"Actually, Allison," Lori replied, "I've been meaning to tell you-"

"Excuse me, ma'am," Aggro said to Rita, interrupting Lori in the process, "But can I borrow your son for a minute?" Having heard Aggro speak up just now caught everyone's attention, especially the Loud sisters who were present.

"What do you need Lincoln for?" Rita asked, curious and mildly apprehensive. In response, Aggro reached over his right shoulder to the cloth carrying case that was worn over his back, similar to the thin rectangular carrying case that Allison currently wore over her back. Opening the cloth carrying case over his back, Aggro drew out a bokken that was inside. Just a little over three feet in length, the bokken was a reddish-brown wood color. There was also some faux black leather (with red threading) wrapped around the one end, serving as the bokken's hilt.

Turning the bokken around in one hand so that the hilt was pointing outwards, Aggro tried to hand the bokken over to Lincoln. "I believe that I may have the answer to your concerns about trying to find your son a physical activity that he can do," Aggro said while facing Rita. Turning back to face Lincoln again, Aggro noticed the confused look that was on the face of the sole Loud boy. "Try holding Morning Sun as if it were a sword of metal," Aggro said as he gave Lincoln instructions to follow.

"Morning Sun?" Rita repeated in a confused tone as Lincoln hesitantly took the offered blade.

"It is wrong that I named my bokken?" Aggro replied as he motioned for everyone to get back. When Lincoln had enough space, Aggro said, "Try swinging it, but not wildly." Confused by the instructions, Lincoln nonetheless followed them, imagining himself as a swordsman from one of the anime shows that he and his friends watched, specifically the ones that were more realistic as opposed to the more fantastical swordsmen of other shows.

A straight forward swing. Two diagonal swings, one from the left and one from the right. Lincoln even held the bokken horizontally in front of him, as if he were blocking a sword strike. While Lincoln was doing this, everyone else watched, Aggro especially. The seventeen-year-old Ace boy could tell that Lincoln had no formal training, but he also saw the sparks of latent talent, not to mention an honest interest in swordsmanship. "…Not bad," Aggro remarked, prompting Lincoln to stop.

Turning to regard Rita, Aggro said, "Ma'am, with your permission, I would like to get your son into Kendo."

"Kendo?" Rita repeated in a confused tone, "What's that?"

"A Japanese martial art that draws its origins from swordsmanship," Aggro explained, "I myself have been practicing it for a good number of years now." Gesturing to Lincoln, who still held the bokken he handed to him, Aggro continued as he spoke to Rita, "You'd be surprised by the amount of physical activity your son will get out of it, and there are more benefits than just the physical ones." Turning to face Lincoln, Aggro said, "I'd like Morning Sun back now."

Still a little confused by what Aggro was talking about, Lincoln nonetheless nodded in understanding as he turned the bokken he held so that he could hand it back while its hilt pointed to Aggro. A mildly amused smile on his face, Aggro said as he took his bokken back, "And just like that, you passed my first test." Confused by Aggro's praise, Lincoln was nonetheless happy that he was apparently already off to a good start.

Turning to face his mom, Lincoln said, "Well what do you think, mom? Would it be okay if I started Kendo?"

Rita was at first surprised that Lincoln actually referred to her as 'mom' rather than 'Mrs. Loud'. But she immediately remembered that they were in the presence of people who weren't part of their family (some of the Ace siblings and Ulfric), so Rita was ready to dismiss Lincoln referring to her as 'mom' as wanting to avoid raising eyebrows. …But the tone that Lincoln used when he asked her for permission…it didn't sound like there was a whole lot of indifference in there. Rita also thought that she might have heard just a little bit of happiness, the kind of happiness a child feels with hanging with a trusted adult. …Nah, it couldn't be. But still, Lincoln seemed like he wanted to give this Kendo business a shot, and Aggro did say that Rita's permission was needed before he began tutoring Lincoln.

With a small but sincere smile that suggested that she was touched, Rita replied, "Well I don't see why not. Your sister's friend seems to know what he's-"

"Linky would totes love to sword fight with you!" Leni said to Aggro in an excited and almost eager tone, interrupting her mother in the process, "When should I bring Linky over for his first lesson?"

A mildly confused look on his face, Aggro said, "Umm, Kendo is not a mere child's game of pretend sword fighting. It is an actual martial art that requires discipline."

"But you'll still show Linky how to do it, right?" Leni continued.

"…Well yeah, since your mother just gave me the okay to do so," Aggro replied, a mildly confused look on his face due to Leni's sudden shift in behavior.

"Then I'll bring Linky over first thing tomorrow!" Leni declared.

Casting a quick glance at Lincoln, Aggro said, "Umm, shouldn't your younger brother rest a bit first? I mean, he was roughed up quite a bit in today's football game."

"He's right, Leni," Rita said to her daughter, "Lincoln needs time to heal from his injuries."

"Oh, sorry," Leni replied, looking mildly embarrassed.

* * *

After sufficient time had passed for Lincoln to recover, he was taken to the Ace family's residence by the oldest of his ex-sisters, Lori and Leni. Lori knew the way over to the Ace family's place, and she was still a bit keen on getting Allison to join the RWHS varsity golf team. However, Lori had no idea why Leni of all people would want to come over.

The three of them eventually reached a two-story house that seemed similar to some of the other two-story houses in the Royal Woods neighborhood. Lori walked up and knocked on the door, which elicited a loud, booming barking from the other side. Lincoln jumped a bit, although neither of the girls did, as they had since become familiar with the beast within.

"Relax, Linky," Leni said, "That was just Aggro's dog."

"It's Allison's dog," Lori corrected, "Aggro doesn't own a dog."

Soon enough after Lori had knocked on it, the front door of the Ace residence was opened, and the three Loud siblings were greeted by Aggro. "I see that you came around the time I had specified," Aggro remarked as he gestured for the Loud siblings to enter, "Punctuality is something that anyone practicing a serious discipline needs to keep in mind."

"You're disciplining Linky?" Leni asked in a worried tone, "What did he do?"

"No, Leni," Lori said, "Discipline can also mean a field of study or training. Martial arts are sometimes referred to as disciplines."

"Your sister is correct, Leni," Aggro remarked, "Rest assured that Lincoln is not in any trouble to speak of. At least as far as I am aware."

"Thank goodness," Leni said as she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well then, we shouldn't just stand out here and chat," Aggro remarked to the Loud siblings with a hint of mild mirth in his tone, "Come on in."

* * *

Lincoln and the two oldest of his ex-sisters walked through the first floor of the Ace family residence. As they went through the living room, something caught the attention of the white-haired boy; a large and somewhat ornate dreamcatcher was hanging on one of the walls in the living room. It clearly looked like something that would cost a considerable sum to purchase from a Native American-themed gift shop somewhere.

"Ah, that," Aggro remarked when Lincoln pointed out and asked about the dreamcatcher, "That came from Amy and Alphonse's parents."

"Wait a minute," Leni began in a mildly confused tone, "I thought that, like, Amy and Alphonse were your siblings. Are you saying they really aren't?"

"In truth, Amy and Alphonse are biologically my cousins," Aggro explained, "With their mom and dad being my aunt and uncle." With a hint of somberness in his expression, Aggro continued, "After a car crash roughly five years ago claimed the lives of my aunt and uncle, my mom and dad took Amy and Alphonse in, and even formally adopted them as their own kids. My mom still has the official paperwork and everything."

"Wait a minute, Aggro," Lori began, "So are Amy and Alphonse your cousins or your siblings?"

"Yes," the male Ace teen replied, drawing mildly confused looks out of Lori and Leni. With a mildly amused smile on his face due to the reactions that he got, Aggro continued, "Amy and Alphonse, unlike me and the rest of my siblings, are half Native American rather than half Japanese. They're still half Swedish because my late aunt was from my mother's side of the family." With a look of mild puzzlement on his face, Aggro added, "I don't quite remember the tribe that my late uncle was born into. I'll have to ask my mother when she returns ho-"

Aggro was cut off when a large, and I do mean large, fluffy dog came running into the living room and right up to the Loud kids that were visiting, wagging its tail in an excited manner. The dog was mostly black in color, although it had a light brownish-tannish underbelly that reached up to around the muzzle.

The sudden appearance of so big a dog caught Lincoln by surprise, although the dog's friendly demeanor and eagerness to consistently lick Lincoln's face as it wagged its tail seemed to have made the white-haired boy relax. "Aww, isn't this the cutest thing?" Leni gushed as the large dog practically coated the side of Lincoln's face with slobber, "Aggro's dog totes likes Linky!"

"Fenrir is Allison's dog, not mine," Aggro corrected, a hint of amusement in his tone that was brought on by the large dog's overly friendly display.

"Yeesh, even though I saw him when I came here that one time to ask Allison if I could borrow her special golf club, I'm literally still shocked by her dog's size," Lori remarked, "I think he's even a little bit bigger than the dog that Bobby's cousins own." Gesturing to Fenrir, Lori asked, "What breed of dog is Fenrir again?"

"Fenrir is a Tibetan Mastiff," Allison's voice called out, prompting everyone to turn and see that Allison had entered the living room. With a snap of her fingers, Allison said, "Fenrir, come." Without missing a beat, the large and fluffy dog stopped showing affection to Lincoln and went over to his owner right away, sitting down on the floor on Allison's right.

"My apologies if Fenrir here gave you any trouble," Allison remarked, "It's just that he loves greeting guests is all."

"Well at least he's friendly," Lincoln remarked.

"So, Louds," Allison remarked, "Why are you over here?"

"Oh, me, Lori and Link's mom gave Aggro the go ahead to teach Linky to sword fight," Leni explained, "Linky's over for his first lesson, and I think that Lori, like, wants to talk to you about something."

"Seems reasonable," Allison said, "Aggro did mention something about teaching one of Lori's siblings how to do kendo." Turning to face the oldest Loud sibling, Allison continued in a knowing tone, "And I can probably guess why you yourself came over."

"Heh, yeah," Lori remarked, "We do have a few things to discuss. Well, at least I hope you'll literally hear me out."

"Uhh huh," Allison replied, "Well anywho, I suppose we ought to let my brother get started on tutoring your brother." With that cue, Lori followed Allison out of the living room, with Fenrir walking along behind them. When they were gone, Aggro turned to face Lincoln and Leni.

"Well then," Aggro said, "We ought to head into the backyard. I have some extra Kendo equipment in the shed in the backyard, and the backyard has the most space for practice."

"Yeah, sounds great," Lincoln replied as he and Leni proceeded to follow Aggro into the backyard.

* * *

While Lori and Allison talked with each other inside, Aggro, Lincoln and Leni were outside in the backyard. The Ace family's backyard was somewhat more spacious than the Loud family's backyard, although a fair part of the backyard was taken up by a large, constructed kennel that was in the upper left (from one's point of view if one had entered the backyard from the house), with a large walk-in shed in the upper right corner of the backyard, making it opposite of the large kennel.

"Before we can get started," Aggro said, "I need to get an appropriately-sized Bogu set for you. Luckily, everything we're going to need is in the shed."

"What's a Bogu?" Lincoln asked.

"It's a set of training armor that's used for practicing Kendo," Aggro explained, "Additionally, we'll have to get you fitted for a gi and a hakama. A gi is the long-sleeved jacket worn by people who practice martial arts, and a hakama is the basically the pants or skirt of the outfit, depending on if your hakama is an umanori or an andon bakama. The gi and hakama are usually worn under the Bogu. As a side note, the gi and hakama both have special methods for properly storing after use and overall care, and I will have to show you that later."

"Wow, Aggro!" Leni remarked, "I didn't know that you knew so much about fashion!"

"…Umm, what I'm talking about doesn't relate to fashion as a whole," Aggro replied in a somewhat confused tone, "At least not as much as you might be assuming." Turing to Lincoln, Aggro said, "Well then, are you ready, Lincoln? Ready to walk the way of the sword?"

The sole Loud boy was somewhat nervous, but it was a mild amount of nervousness at most. And the excitement of learning a martial art far outweighed any trepidation that he had. After he had gathered enough of his nerves, Lincoln nodded in the affirmative, saying, "I'm ready to start learning when you're ready to start teaching, Aggro-sensei."

"Oh," Aggro replied in a tone of mild amusement, "I see that you have some familiarity with honorifics." Looking upwards to the sky, Aggro continued with a look of consideration on his face, "Yeah, I'm your Kendo instructor, so I suppose that calling me sensei would be correct." Lowing his head back down so he could face Lincoln, Aggro continued, "We'll get started, but first we need to get a size-appropriate Bogu, gi and hakama for you. I can't have you training without being properly outfitted." With a small but amused smile on his face, Aggro added, "Lincoln-kun."

"Hee," Leni giggled cutely to herself, "This is going to be fun."

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER TWELVE

Author's notes:

Sorry if a mostly filler chapter featuring the supporting characters wasn't your cup of tea, but I felt it was prudent to take things a bit slowly when it came to Lincoln forgiving his sisters. Also, I've been wanting to hint at Lincoln coming to acknowledge his parents again; he hasn't forgiven either Rita or Lynn Sr. yet, but I've been wanting to set the stage for at least one of them. As a side note, I've also been wanting to flesh out the Aces a bit more, to give them some richer background and to develop them more as characters. I wanted them to be more than just 'OCs that help the Louds and look strangely familiar for some reason'. Anywho, this chapter is the adapted form of the seventh one-shot from the collection of one-shots that I keep bringing up. However, that one-shot continues on from the point where this chapter ends; I'll cover the rest of the seventh one-shot in the next chapter, along with some further touching upon what Lincoln went through during the events of 'Broken Mirror'.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image

Chapter thirteen: Starlit Sky

Lincoln, once again in the guise of Broken Mirror, watched from the shadows. Watched as a member of the violent youth gang assaulted an elderly woman, knock her over, snatch her purse, then ran off. From what the white-haired boy had heard, the violent youth gang has been trampling all over this city as if it were their personal stomping grounds. They were causing significant trouble for everyone else in the city; not only that, but not only was nothing being done about the violent youth gang, it was clear that they were never going to stop on their own.

That's why _he_ decided to be the one to bring them to a stop.

Moving quietly but quickly through the shadows and from behind cover, Lincoln went after the gang member he just caught mugging that elderly lady. After a few turns, he eventually caught up to the gang member. With a quick punch to the side of the gang member's head, causing him to stumble a bit and drop the purse he stole. After he recovered, the gang member saw him, and it was clear that he was expecting someone else, due to the confused look on his face.

"Who the hell are you?!" the gang member snapped as he raised his fists. Spitting to the side, the gang member faced the hooded kid again as he said, "You wanna fucking go, you little turd?!" The white-haired boy said nothing in response to the gang member's challenge. Instead, with a cool and steady motion, Lincoln took out the butterfly knife that he lifted from a gang hideout he raided a short while ago. The gang member's eyes widened in shock, surprise and worry as his eyes fell upon the weapon.

"…The fuck is that?" the gang member said as he pointed to the butterfly knife. Without an answer, without ever even saying anything, Lincoln just ran forward towards the punk, alarming him. "Hey, wait a minute!" the gang member began in a panicking tone that clearly conveyed that he was trying to bargain, "We can work something-"

*SHUK*

Lincoln was in no mood to hear any bargaining. Certainly not from the gang member that he had just killed, and certainly not from any of the gang member's fellows. The white-haired boy had a job to do, this much he knew. And wasting time listening to the hypocritical begging of the gang members was not something he could afford. After wiping his blade on the gang member's jacket, Lincoln took out one of his calling cards, laid it on the gang member, went over to collect the stolen purse, set that on the gang member as well, then took his leave.

Best not to stick around for too long.

…

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Lincoln jolted awake from yet another dream, another nightmare where he took a life. Lincoln clearly remembered that in the dream, he had only taken the life of some random gang member who contributed to the city's problem; it wasn't any of Lincoln's ex-sisters, and it thankfully wasn't any of the sisters that Lincoln had since come to forgive for their part in driving him to the point of running away. But the white-haired boy took little comfort from that fact. The fact still remained that he had killed someone in his dream.

As he sat up in bed, Lincoln breathed in and out to catch his breath, a cold sweat brought on by his nightmare coating him here and there. As Lincoln slowly inhaled and exhaled, Luna came running into his room, having been summoned by the sound of Lincoln screaming as he jolted awake. "Yo little dude, you okay?" Luna asked in a concerned tone.

"It's…it's nothing," Lincoln replied as he turned around so that his legs hung from off the side of his bed, "Just another nightmare is all."

"Did…" Luna began in a nervous tone, remembering Lincoln's last nightmare such as this, "…Did you kill any of us in this nightmare?"

Gently shaking his head, Lincoln said, "No, Luna. It was just some random criminal."

Luna slowly walked over to her little brother's bed, sat down next to him, then gently laid a hand on his back. "…But your dream still has you spooked, huh?" Luna asked.

"If you woke up from a dream where you killed someone by jabbing them repeatedly with a knife, regardless of what that person had done, would you be spooked?" Lincoln asked as he gave his musically inclined ex-sister a mildly unamused wry look.

Nodding slowly a bit in agreement, Luna remarked, "You got me there, little dude." Getting up from where she sat, Luna asked in a concerned tone, "Are you going to be okay, bro?"

"I'll be fine," Lincoln replied, "Thank you for the concern." Getting back under the covers of his bed, Lincoln said, "Now then, if you don't mind, I'd like to try to get back to bed."

"Got it," Luna replied as she took the cue to leave, opening Lincoln's bedroom door, and closing it after she exited the room. Alone in his room once again, the white-haired boy, still spooked by the dream that he just woke up from, tried to return to the realm of sleep once more, hoping that he'd have dreams of a more pleasant nature.

…

"…He's still having nightmares, I'm afraid," Luna told the other Loud girls as they stood in the hallway outside of Lincoln's closed bedroom door.

"Would I be correct in guessing that it was another dream where Lincoln took the life of someone?" Lisa asked, her usually dry monotone carrying a hint of worry. Lisa's question was answered by a quiet nod in the affirmative from Luna.

"Ooh, can't we do anything to help him?" Leni said in a worried tone, clearly concerned for her younger brother's well-being, "It's, like, totes unfair that Linky has to deal with this."

"Unfair like how the lot of us made him out into a pariah?" Lynn retorted, clearly guilty for her role in what had compelled the sole Loud boy to run away.

"Girls, there's literally nothing we can do right now," Lori said to the other Loud girls, "We should try to tackle this problem in the morning. For now, we should all literally head back to bed. No use in staying up."

The other girls all agreed with what the oldest of their number had said, and thus they proceeded to head on off back to bed. As the group of Loud girls dispersed, Lisa said in her usual dry monotone, "Lynn, I am surprised that you not only know the word 'pariah', but that you know how to use it correctly."

"…Shut up," Lynn retorted in a dry, unamused tone before heading back to her and Lucy's room to go back to bed.

* * *

The following day, Lincoln was in the Ace family's backyard; in recent events, Lincoln had taken up practicing Kendo, and he was being tutored by Aggro Ace, the younger twin brother of Allison, who is friends with Lori, the oldest of Lincoln's ex-sisters. Aggro was having Lincoln practice some moves using a bokken; the bokken that Lincoln was using for practice was a few inches shorter than Morning Sun, Aggro's personal bokken, and it was of a whitish wooden color. Additionally, unlike Morning Sun, the bokken that Lincoln was using lacked any sort of wrap around the hilt end. As for Aggro himself, he was practicing alongside Lincoln, using Morning Sun.

"…Let's take a break, Lincoln-kun," Aggro said, catching the white-haired boy off guard a bit, "We've been at this for a fair enough amount of time."

"Alright, Aggro-sensei," Lincoln replied as he straightened up. The male Ace teen led Lincoln into the Ace family residence, and into the kitchen for a snack break.

…

"You seem troubled, Lincoln-kun," Aggro remarked as he and Lincoln sat at a dining table across from each other; Lincoln was eating some sort of sweet snack that was provided to him, whereas Aggro was having a can of his favorite brand of Root Beer. When Lincoln looked up to him from his snack, Aggro continued, "I've been tutoring you in kendo for the past few weeks, and today was the first time that I've seen you so distracted. I can tell that it's something rather troubling, given how distant you seemed when I had you go over some drills." Straightening up a bit, Aggro said, "Do you wish to talk about it?"

"…I had a rather disturbing nightmare last night," Lincoln replied after a few seconds.

"A nightmare, huh?" Aggro remarked in a mildly curious tone. After a few seconds of consideration, Aggro asked, "Might this nightmare of yours be related to the nightmare that you told Bobby and I about back at the birthday party that Astrid's friend had at Odin-Dono's?"

"Kind of," Lincoln began to explain in a resigned and troubled tone, "I chased down and killed someone, similar to the dream I had where I did the same to Luna."

"Was the person from your latest nightmare another one of your sisters, or some other relative of yours?" Aggro asked.

In response to his Kendo instructor's question, Lincoln gently shook his head. "No, it was some remorseless criminal," Lincoln said.

"A remorseless criminal, you say," Aggro remarked, his interest piqued.

"I can remember from my dream that nothing was being done to stop him," Lincoln went on, "Even though he was a major problem for the city as a whole. He also was clearly never going to stop on his own. Before I had gotten to him, he assaulted an old lady and stole her purse. That's when I chased him into an alleyway and…and…"

"Lincoln-kun, relax," Aggro said, getting his student to calm down. After giving a mildly resigned-sounding sigh, Aggro said, "Did your sister Lori ever tell you about the time where I killed a man?"

Upon hearing what his Kendo tutor just said, Lincoln looked up to him with a look of shock on his eleven-year-old face. "You…you killed a man, Aggro-sensei?" Lincoln asked, not believing what he had just heard.

Nodding gently a few times in the affirmative, Aggro explained, "This happened five years ago, back when Allison, Lori and I were all still in middle school."

"Back during Lori's quote unquote 'awkward phase'?" Lincoln asked in a knowing tone.

"If by awkward phase you mean back when your sister still wore braces and glasses, then yes," Aggro replied, "Lori said that she referred to that period of her life as her awkward phase, but we're getting off subject here." Taking a calming breath, Aggro said, "Allison had invited Lori over to spend the night. Sometime during the night, a burglar broke in and was trying to rob the place. Astrid, who was only six at the time, saw the burglar and freaked out. I rightly feared for the safety of my little sister, so…" Reaching down to where he had something leaning against the table, Aggro grabbed Moring Sun by its hilt in a reverse grip, and held it up just enough for Lincoln to see.

"…I ended up killing him, using Morning Sun to carry out the deed," Aggro said as he finished up his tale. Setting his bokken back where he had it, Aggro continued, "The most the burglar had on hand was a crowbar, which I believe was the main reason I had such an easy time against him. If the burglar had a gun, then I would have been a hell of a lot more frightened. Still, none of that changes the fact that I killed a man back when I was twelve." Lincoln nodded in an understanding manner as he listened to his sensei's story. Granted, Lincoln had killed a bit sooner than his sensei, and had claimed more lives than just that of one lone man, but the story still resonated a bit with the white-haired boy.

"…I believe that your nightmare from last night, and the incident back when I was twelve, have a lot in common, Lincoln-kun," Aggro said.

A curious and mildly confused look on his face, Lincoln said, "What do you mean, Aggro-sensei?"

"You said that the person that you killed in your nightmare from last night was a criminal that not only was never going to stop on his own, but nothing was being done about him, correct?" Aggro began, and after Lincoln nodded in the affirmative, Aggro continued, "Although it was a rather violent way to do so, you did what had to be done in your nightmare. That burglar from twelve years ago not only was going to rob my family, but I had every reason to believe he might have harmed one of my siblings. And my family was still trying to get over my aunt and uncle getting killed in that car crash, which happened a week and a half before the attempted burglary." Giving Lincoln a serious but understanding look, Aggro continued, "If doing so is truly the only way to keep something worse from happening or allowing that something worse to continue, then there's nothing wrong with taking things to their logical extreme, I believe. Although I pray that you never have to find yourself in such a situation, Lincoln-kun."

Smiling in a sympathetic manner, Lincoln said, "Thanks, Aggro-sensei." With his mood lightened a little, Lincoln resumed eating his snack, but about midway through, he heard some excited animal noises from the floor next to where he sat. Looking down to his left, Lincoln saw a young adult skunk, moving in place on the floor to the left of Lincoln's seat. "No, Spirit, you can't have any," Lincoln said to the skunk next to his chair, "This food isn't for skunks"

"Heh," Aggro said with an amused chuckle, "I take it Amy's pet skunk is bothering you?" Before Lincoln sound speak, some yipping came from Aggro's side of the table. Looking down to his right, Aggro reached down, picked something up, and placed a young adult red fox on his lap. "And we don't have any food for foxes either, Kyubi," Aggro said the fox on his lap as he gently stoked its head, eliciting a happy-sounding purring of some kind from the fox. Looking to his student, Aggro said, "Now's about the time to make sure there's food in Kyubi's, Spirit's and Fenrir's respective dishes. Care to help me, Lincoln-kun?"

"I'm surprised that Allison's dog can put away as much food as he does," Lincoln remarked in a tone of agreement as he got up off of his seat. At the same time that Lincoln got up, Aggro set Kyubi down on the floor and got up off of his seat as well.

"That's what Allison would refer to as a quote unquote 'warrior's appetite'," Aggro explained as he and Lincoln went about filling the pet food dishes.

* * *

One day at the Ace residence, after Lincoln's practice with Aggro was done for the day, Aggro said as he and Lincoln changed from their Kendo practice outfits back to their regular outfits, "Oh Lincoln-kun, there's going to be a Kendo tournament this Saturday at the youth center. Would you be interested in going to watch?"

"There's a Kendo tournament at the youth center?" Lincoln asked.

"It's for kids in the Royal Woods area," Aggro explained, "It'll be similar to the youth group football game in which you and a bunch of kids were playing against a similar team from the next town over." Standing up, Aggro said as he rolled his shoulders, "I figured that you might learn a lot from watching others compete."

"Why can't Linky, like, enter the tournament himself?" Leni asked; since the day Lincoln first started being tutored in Kendo, Leni would occasionally (i.e. frequently) come over to watch Lincoln practice with Aggro, and today was one of the (many) days that Leni had come over to watch the two guys practice the way of the sword.

"Well, technically, Lincoln-kun can enter if he wants to," Aggro replied in an 'ehh' kind of tone, "And the tournament's basically open to any kid who wishes to enter, regardless of how much training, if any, the kid may have. I'm still trying to figure out what the people organizing the tournament are even thinking with that." To Lincoln and Leni, Aggro said, "I suppose that if Lincoln-kun feels confident about it, I won't stop him from entering. Although personally, I'd rather that he spends more time practicing and training before he enters such an event."

"But Linky's had you as his teacher," Leni pointed out, "And you're, like, the best person in the world at this! Surely that means that Linky's ready!"

Laughing in a good-natured tone, Aggro replied, "Thanks for the flattery, but I seriously doubt that I'm the best in the world." Turning his head to face Lincoln, Aggro said, "Well Lincoln-kun, do you think you're ready to enter the tournament?"

With a shrug, Lincoln replied, "There's only one real way to find out."

Smirking in mild amusement, Aggro said, "I like that attitude. Going to the tournament will be a valuable learning experience either way, but there is more to gleam from doing rather than watching." Stretching his arms upwards, Aggro said, "You'll have to ask for your parents' permission to enter, but if they give you the okay, then I'll look into getting you signed up."

"EEEEEE!" Leni squealed excitedly, "This is so exciting! Linky's going to compete in a sword fighting game!"

Sighing in mild exasperation, Aggro pinched the bridge of his nose while saying, "It's an actual martial art."

* * *

When the day of the tournament came, Lincoln and Aggro found themselves at the local youth center, standing in a gymnasium at the youth center. "It's a good thing that I was able to sign you up ahead of time," Aggro remarked to his student, "As it turns out, there's something of a shortage when it comes to the Bogu sets. At least they have enough shinai for everyone."

"More than enough, if you ask me," Lincoln remarked, "I saw a container with a bunch of them sticking out of it."

"Shinai may break or splinter, which would make them unsafe for use," Aggro explained. As Lincoln nodded in understanding to what Aggro had said, the two boys heard Leni's voice call out, getting their attention in the process. The two boys turned to see Rita, Lucy, Lynn, Lola, Lana and all of Lincoln's ex-sisters come walking up.

"So, Lincoln," Rita began in a tone of mild trepidation, "This…this is your first tournament."

"Leni said that you're going to be doing a serious version of the play sword fighting that we do whenever Lola and I can convince you to play Knights and castles with us," Lana said, "Is that true, Lincoln? Are you going to be a knight?"

"Well, the tournament I'm going to enter is a serious version of when I play with you girls," Lincoln replied, "Although it's not actually playing. Also, I think I'd be more akin to a samurai than a knight."

"There's something that I'm, like, wondering about," Leni began saying to her little brother, "I saw a bunch of swords that look like they're made of bamboo that's tied together sticking out of a few barrels. Are they, like, a variation of that bokky sword you and Aggro use for practicing?"

"The correct pronunciation is 'bokken', Leni," Aggro began to explain, "And the swords that you saw are not bokken, they're shinai. Bokken are used when one is practicing movements on their own, and shinai are used when sparring against an opponent. The kids competing in today's tournament will be using shinai when going up against each other."

"Is that, like, important?" Leni asked.

"Aggro-sensei told me something about how it's kind of dangerous for two people sparring against each other in Kendo to use bokken, so shinai are used instead," Lincoln said.

"That's right," Aggro remarked to his student. Turning to face Rita and the Loud girls, Aggro continued, "Shinai, similar to bokken, come in varying lengths and weights, but the ones that the kids competing in today's tournament will be using are all the same length and weight."

"That's to make sure everything's fair, right?" Lynn asked.

"Exactly," Aggro answered, "The people running the tournament will be keeping an eye on the length and weight of the shinai that are used. In fact, I once made it to the final round of a Kendo tournament because my opponent before the final round was discovered to have been using a heavier shinai that what I was using. This discovery led to my opponent being disqualified."

"So that was like cheating," Lynn said.

"Pretty much," Aggro replied, "Another reason for the people keeping an eye on the shinai being used is in case one of the shinai breaks or splinters, which would render the shinai unsafe for use. Why else do you think so many shinai were brought in for the tournament?"

"That sounds like a pretty solid reason," Luna remarked.

"This is going to be awesome!" Lana said excitedly as she pumped a fist into the air, "My older brother's going to kick so much butt today!"

" _Heh_ ," Aggro thought in amusement as he proceeded to watch Lana and Lola ask Lincoln a million questions, " _Just like Anna_."

* * *

The tournament was off to a well enough start, with Lincoln getting past the first few rounds without much difficulty. Lincoln's family cheered whenever the white-haired boy won a match, and the booming cheering they gave from behind where Aggro sat made the male Ace teen believe that the Louds certainly live up to their family name.

Speaking of Aggro himself, although he would have preferred it if Lincoln had a bit more training before entering a tournament such as this, Aggro was amazed by how Lincoln made it past the first few rounds. That in itself was, as far as Aggro was concerned, praise-worthy, and Aggro fully intended to congratulate his student for the progress that he had shown so far in the tournament, even if Lincoln ended up getting eliminated at some point.

" _Well I have certainly been proven wrong_. _I owe Lincoln_ - _kun an apology for underestimating him_ ," Aggro thought as he watched Lincoln win his latest match before an intermission to give the competitors still in the tournament a chance to catch their breath before the matches resumed, as well as give family members a chance to congratulate their kids for getting so far.

* * *

"Wow, Kara," Chandler remarked to his older cousin as the two of them were talking in private somewhere in the community center, "I never expected Larry to be in the tournament here, nor did I expect him to go up against you and take you out. Sorry about that, by the way."

"I think that was the boy that your friends tried to spring the trap on a few weeks ago back at Royal Woods Middle School," Kara remarked with her hands on her hips, "You never mentioned that he practiced Kendo."

"I didn't know that Larry practiced Kendo," Chandler replied with a shrug, "But Larry isn't the focus here. Anywho, did you see Francisco here?"

"Yeah, and he's still in the tournament," Kara explained. With a bit of a chuckle, Kara said, "Don't worry, little cousin, I already secretly switched out the shinai that Francisco was using without being caught by anyone."

"Well alright," Chandler said, "Now all one of us has to do is go up to one of the people that's monitoring the kendo matches, preferably after a match that Francisco just finished, tell the monitor person that we saw Francisco switch his bamboo sword out for another one, then we just sit back and let the show play out."

"And to think," Kara remarked to her younger cousin, "Uncle, Francisco's dad and the head guy at the sewage treatment plant are here watching the tournament. Imagine how they'll react when our secret plan unfolds."

"This'll only have one outcome, cousin," Chandler said, "Our family moving on up." Chandler and his older cousin both exchanged knowing smiles, then shared a fist-bump.

* * *

To Aggro's amused surprise and the happiness of Rita and the Loud girls, Lincoln advanced to the final round of the Kendo tournament. "Hey everyone," Lynn said as she came back to her group after leaving to get a soda from a vending machine. Popping the top off of her drink, Lynn asked, "So, what did I miss?"

"Lincoln…literally made it to the final round," Lori replied, a hint of apprehension in her tone, which did not go by unnoticed by her sporty younger sister.

"Why do you sound worried, Lori?" Lynn asked, "I mean, Lincoln is in the final round of a martial arts tournament! What's not to like about that?"

"Lori's concerned because Lincoln-kun's opponent is some boy by the name of Francisco," Aggro explained, "Personally, I don't see what the big deal is."

Suddenly, Lynn's eyes shot wide open. "…What?" the sporty Loud sibling said, no visible emotion in her tone.

"…I'm going to have to be filled in here, it seems," Aggro said to the other Louds.

Sighing in a resigned tone, Lori said, "That Francisco boy you just mentioned, Aggro. Lynn used to have a crush on him, but then when the baseball team Francisco belonged to tried to cheat in an official game against the team that Lynn belonged to, and that cheating was discovered, Lynn was pretty much devastated, even though Francisco didn't commit any of the cheating himself." Crossing her arms over her chest, Lori continued, "But after what happened during the student body elections over at the school Lynn and Luan go to, I'm doubting what that little twerp said in his own defense, not that I ever really believed what Francisco said."

"…Oh my," Aggro remarked in a mildly concerned tone. To Lynn specifically, Aggro asked, "You are doing better now, aren't you?"

"I am doing better, yes," Lynn replied, "And I found a new crush who has a far stronger sense of honor than Francisco ever had." Shaking her head gently, Lynn said, "But that's beside the point. The point here now is that Lincoln is totally going to mop the floor with Francisco."

"One can only hope," Aggro replied as he and everyone he was talking to turned to face forward so they can watch the match between Lincoln and Francisco. As the two boys stepped up to take their respective places, the cheering in the gymnasium reached a fever pitch, in no small part thanks to a certain family who literally had Loud as their last name, cheering for their only son, their only brother. The Louds gave it their all, in hopes that Lincoln would win.

…

"Game, set and match!" the referee for the Kendo tournament announced, "Francisco wins!" The audience in the youth center gymnasium cheered loudly as Francisco was announced as the winner, although a certain family wasn't all that happy with the thirteen-year-old boy's victory.

"I can't believe that bastard won!" Lynn swore vengefully as she stood up rather forcefully, "I ought to put a knuckle sandwich right into the center of his face!"

"I understand you're upset that your brother lost, Lynn," Aggro said to the sporty Loud, "And to a boy who broke your heart, no less. But in all fairness, it was a fair match. You should be proud of the fact that Lincoln-kun made it to the final round of the first tournament that he ever entered. Even I wasn't expecting that, given how recently I've started tutoring him in Kendo."

Sighing in a relenting tone, Lynn replied, "I know, I know. But I still can't-"

"Hey, what are those guys talking to the referee about?" Leni asked, cutting Lynn off as she pointed to two men talking to the referee. After a few seconds, the referee called Francisco over, and apparently asked to see his shinai. Receiving the shinai from Lynn's former crush, the referee then picked up one of the shinai that was made standard for the tournament, and proceeded to compare the two bamboo swords, as if to try and see some sort of quality that the two of them had.

"Attention everyone!" the referee announced, "There's been a mistake! Francisco's been disqualified, meaning that the winner is actually Lincoln!"

"Linky actually won?" Leni nearly exclaimed, "Hooray!"

"Wait a minute," Lynn began in a suspicious tone, "What did the referee mean by saying that Francisco was disqualified?"

"…I was hoping something like this wouldn't happen in a tournament that Lincoln-kun entered," Aggro remarked in a mildly grim tone, "But since the referee was comparing the shinai he received from that Francisco boy to one of the standard issue shinai for the tournament, I think that Francisco was using a heavier shinai than the one that Lincoln-kun was using."

"…So…" Lynn said quietly as an angry and violent storm started to brew within her, "…Are you saying that-"

"Francisco was disqualified for cheating, yes," Aggro interrupted, "Although if it makes you feel any better, this means that Lincoln-kun won the first Kendo tournament he ever entered."

"…I'm going to destroy Francisco," Lynn said, "Both for cheating in a sporting slash martial art event, and for cheating against my little brother. He's going down, mark my words."

"She'll cool down once I take her and all of her siblings out at the pizza place to celebrate Lincoln winning," Rita said to Aggro. Both the Loud matriarch and the Kendo instructor regarded the sporty Loud girl with looks of concern.

…

"There has to be a mistake," one man said as he and two others talked to each other, "There's no real way that my son would intentionally cheat in an event like this!"

"As much as we all would like for what had happened to not have happened at all, the fact remains that it happened," the second man said, "In fact, I wonder if your son had cheated in all of the other matches that he was in today. At least my niece Kara never faced him."

"I have to say, this is rather disappointing," the third man said; this third man seemed somewhat older and a lot more affluent than the other two men. To the first man, the third man said in a mildly disappointed tone, "I was expecting more strength of character out of your son than this, but I guess I was wrong." Holding a hand to his chin, the third man continued, "Makes me wonder about where he got such ideals from."

"You can't be serious, sir!" the first man said, shocked and a little worried.

With a gentle shake of his head, the third man said, "We'll discuss this, and certain other things, on Monday in my office." To both of the other men, the third man said, "I'll expect to see the both of you in my office at nine AM sharp." The third man then took his leave, leaving the first two men on their own.

Turning to face the first man, the second man said with a hint of condescension in his tone, "Tough break about your son's cheating, huh?" The second man then turned around and took his own leave, leaving the first man alone.

* * *

Later that evening at the Loud family residence, just as the stars started to appear in the sky, Lincoln was standing in front of the family's trophy case with Lynn and Leni. Inside the case in the space reserved for Lincoln was a golden trophy, roughly one foot tall, that signified that Lincoln had won a Kendo tournament. "Hey, what happened to that little trophy we made for Linky?" Leni asked.

"Lola and Lana were trying to wrestle Charles into some outfit, and in the struggle, they bumped into the trophy case hard enough to make it pop open and cause some of the awards inside to fall out," Lynn explained, "The trophy we made for Lincoln was broken, along with two trophies I got for playing baseball."

"Sorry to hear that some of your trophies were broken," Lincoln said to his sporty sibling.

With a dismissive wave of her hand, Lynn said, "They were baseball trophies, Lincoln. No need to sweat it." Turning back to face the trophy case, Lynn said, "But we're getting off subject here. You won a trophy, Lincoln! And it's a first place one!" Grabbing Lincoln in a gentle headlock, Lynn proceeded to playfully noogie the top of Lincoln's head. "You're getting to be more like me, Lincoln!" Lynn said with a good amount of mirth in her tone, "Try to keep it up!"

Laughing a bit, Lincoln said, "Okay, Lynn, just let me-" Lincoln was cut off when he, his sporty sister and his ditzy ex-sister heard a knock at the front door. The three of them went to the door to answer it, and Leni opened it to reveal Aggro standing there. In addition to the bokken carrying case over Aggro's back that held Morning Sun, there was another bokken carrying case over Aggro's back, peeking out from behind his left shoulder and right hip; this gave Aggro the appearance of a certain dual-wielding swordsman that is known to be cloaked in black.

"Sorry if I came by at an inconvenient time," Aggro said, "But I wanted to bring something by to Lincoln-kun, as a sort of congratulatory present for winning his first Kendo tournament." Taking off the bokken carrying case that didn't hold Morning Sun, Aggro opened it and drew out the bokken that was inside. About an inch shorter than Morning Sun, this second bokken was still just as thick. The second bokken was a whitish wood color, and the faux leather wrapping around the end that served as the hilt had green threading as opposed to the red threading on Morning Sun's hilt. Placing the second bokken back into its carrying case, Aggro handed it to Lincoln while saying, "Here you go."

"You're giving Linky a wooden sword?" Leni asked, clearly shocked that Aggro was showing such generosity.

"I figured that it was high time that Lincoln-kun got his own bokken," Aggro remarked, "I picked this up from a specialty store. Now he can get some practice in here at home, instead of having to rely exclusively on his visits to my family's place."

"Th-thank you, Aggro-sensei," Lincoln replied, still surprised that his Kendo instructor bothered to go through the trouble of getting him his own bokken, and one that was of such a high quality.

"Does Linky's new wooden sword have a name like yours, Aggro?" Leni asked.

With a mildly amused look on his face, Aggro replied, "That's up to Lincoln-kun to determine. Although if I were him, I'd try to some up with a meaningful name."

"How about Idiot Beater?" Lynn suggested, "Because Lincoln should use it to beat Francisco? Or maybe Jerk Wrecker, or-"

"It's up to your brother to determine, Lynn," Aggro interrupted, "Now then, I believe I've intruded on your time enough, so I'll be taking my leave." Aggro turned around to leave, but stopped short as he looked up into the sky. "…Wow, the night sky's rather clear tonight."

Curious, Lincoln, Lynn and Leni walked out to where Aggro stood and looked up into the night sky. The skies could not be clearer, allowing the stars to shine at their brightest. "…A while ago, my family and I went to Lake Superior," Aggro said, "At night, when we looked up into the skies, we saw the Aurora Borealis lights. Allison said that the lights were caused by Odin trying to put on a show to amuse warriors that he deemed worthy."

"Even without those pretty northern lights you're talking about Aggro, this starlit sky is, like, totes pretty," Leni remarked. Looking down to her siblings, Leni asked, "What do you guys think, Linky and Lynn?"

"Yeah, Leni," Lincoln agreed, "It is rather-" Lincoln stopped short as a look of inspiration crossed his face. "…That's it," Lincoln said.

"What's it, bro?" Lynn asked, a curious look on her face as she turned to face her younger brother.

Looking back down, Lincoln held the carrying case that held his new bokken in both hands. "I just figured out what I'm going to name my bokken," Lincoln replied. The white-haired boy took his bokken out of its carrying case, and held it up, his right hand gripping the bokken's hilt, so that it was up against the night sky everyone was looking up at. "I'm going to name it Starlit Sky," Lincoln said.

With an amused smile on his face, Aggro said, "That's as fine of a name as I ever heard for a sword, Lincoln-kun. Not bad."

"What Leni said just now gave me the idea," Lincoln explained as he returned his bokken, newly christened as Starlit Sky, back to its carrying case. Looking up at his instructor, Lincoln said, "Thanks again, Aggro-sensei."

"You've more than earned it, Lincoln-kun," Aggro replied, "Just don't forget to keep up with your training, alright?" After a few more pleasantries were exchanged, Aggro took his leave for real, leaving Lincoln, Lynn and Leni alone.

"Well, you guys," Lynn said, "We ought to get going back inside." Nodding in agreement with the sporty Loud girl, Lincoln and Leni both followed her back into the Loud family house, and soon afterwards, everyone settled down into sleep.

…

Lincoln was once again in one of the alleyways of the city that he ran away to, once again in the guise of Broken Mirror. Lincoln chased down and killed yet another member of the violent youth gang. Just as he got up from his latest kill, Lincoln came to his senses, stumbling back a bit out of shock of what he had just done.

" _Why_ …" Lincoln thought as he shook his head, "… _Why does this keep happening to me_ …?" Suddenly, a bright flash of light appeared, blinding Lincoln. The white-haired boy then felt himself thrown back by some sort of force. When the light died down, Lincoln stood up and when he did, what he saw shocked him. The first thing that Lincoln saw, lying about a few feet away, was an exact copy of himself, dressed as Broken Mirror. Looking down, Lincoln saw that he himself was dressed as he normally way. The second thing that Lincoln saw, floating a few feet above the ground of the alleyway, was Starlit Sky.

Broken Mirror, seeing the bokken, got up and tried to make a grab for it. But Lincoln was quicker, and not only did he grab Starlit Sky first, but he swung it at Broken Mirror in a diagonal slashing motion, striking the masked vigilante across his body from his left shoulder to his right hip. Broken Mirror, to Lincoln's confusion, then vanished in a swirl of dark purple smoke. After the vigilante was gone, Starlit Sky radiated with a bright, comforting glow.

Lincoln's vision went blank white for a moment, but when vision returned to him, Lincoln saw that he was standing in his ex-family's front yard at night. Looking around, Lincoln saw that nothing was off; it was just a typical Royal Woods night as far as he could tell. The only thing different was that Lincoln still held Starlit Sky.

As he stood there, Lincoln held up his bokken and looked at it; it had done away with his vigilante self, then brought him from the cold and unforgiving world of the city he ran away to the warm and familiar environment of his home town. Lincoln didn't understand how all of this happened, but there was something that he _did_ understand.

He was home.

…

Lincoln woke up with a bit of a start. Looking over at a clock, Lincoln saw that it was roughly five-thirty in the morning. Getting up out of his bed, Lincoln walked over to his dresser. Laying across the top of the dresser was Starlit Sky, still in its carrying case. The sole Loud boy laid a hand over the carrying case that held his bokken as he let out a sigh. He was having one of his nightmares where he was back to being Broken Mirror. But then Lincoln and Broken Mirror became two separate people, Starlit Sky appeared in the dream, Lincoln took it, and then used it to destroy Broken Mirror.

Could…could Lincoln find peace at night now? Would this bokken continue to banish the nightmares, just as it had done just now?

Shrugging, Lincoln decided to ponder about it as he went back to bed and laid there until the first of the Loud girls got up.

END, RESTORED IMAGE

Author's notes:

The seventh one-shot from the collection I keep mentioning actually covers both this chapter and the previous one. The reason why I stretched things out over the course of two chapters here is because Lincoln has a _lot_ more development here in 'Restored Image' than in the one-shots. Well anywho, now that the 'Lincoln learns about Kendo' arc is over, things will be heading back to continuing the story in the next chapter.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image

Chapter fourteen: Final Confrontation

Lincoln Loud was grabbing breakfast one morning in his ex-family's house in Royal Woods, Michigan. As he ate his simple meal of a bowl of cereal with milk, his younger sisters Lucy, Lola and Lana were talking to his younger ex-sister Lisa, while Lincoln's ex-mother Rita was feeding his baby ex-sister Lily.

"Come on, Lisa," Lana said, "Lola and Lucy already agreed to go to the park! If you agree to come, we can play four square or something else like that!"

"I'm afraid that I have some experiments that I need to attend to," Lisa replied in her usual dry monotone, "I don't really have the time to play around."

"Also, I feel the need to point out that I only agreed to go to the park because I was planning on writing in my journal while sitting under one of the trees," Lucy said to her tomboyish younger sister, "It's such a pleasant day, and I could do with getting some fresh air."

"Also, unless you can get one of our older sibling units to go with us to keep an eye on us, I highly doubt that our mother will let us go to the park," Lisa added.

"Your little sister has a point, Lana," Rita said in a mildly firm tone, "But if one of your older siblings is okay with going to keep an eye on you and your sisters, then you all can go."

"Alright," Lana said. Immediately turning to face Lincoln, Lana asked, "Hey Lincoln, can you come with me, Lola, Lucy and Lisa to the park today?"

"I'm sorry, Lana," Lincoln began in an apologetic tone, "But my friend Rusty asked me and our other friends to come by and help him with something."

"Aww," Lana said in a disappointed pout. As the tomboyish twin sulked, Leni came walking into the dining room area. Right before she reached the doorway leading into the kitchen, Leni noticed Lana's sulking.

"Hey Lana, are you, like, okay?" Leni asked in a concerned tone.

"Me, Lola, Lucy and Lisa can't go to the park because mom says we need an older sibling to go along to watch us," Lana explained in a disappointed tone.

"Hey, I have time today," Leni said, "I can, like, totes go along with all of you!"

"Really?!" Lana said excitedly, her tone instantly picking right back up.

"Well if mom is, like, okay with it, then sure!" Leni replied in her usual chirpy tone.

Rita, upon hearing Leni volunteer to go with the youngest of the Loud girls to the park was at first a bit hesitant; Rita had nothing against her second-oldest, but Leni did have a history of letting her attention wander. Still, Leni was available and willing, and the youngest of the Loud girls, Lana in particular, were eager to go to the park. …Well, Lana, Lola and Lucy were eager to go to the park; Lisa wanted to stay home, although Rita felt that her second-youngest could do with some fresh air.

"Well…alright, Leni," Rita said, "But remember that you have to keep an eye on Lucy, the twins and Lisa, okay?"

"Uhh, mother," Lisa began to interject, "I just said that I did not wish to go to the park. Lucy, Lola and Lana can go without me."

"Lisa, sweetie, you could do with some time outside," Rita remarked, her tone making it clear that Lisa was going to go to the park with her sisters, whether she wanted to go or not. Seeing that she was not going to get out of this, the brainy Loud sister sighed in a resigned tone before draining the last of her cup of milk.

"Very well, mother," Lisa remarked, "I'll just need to go throw on a clean shirt."

"Ooh, that reminds me," Lola said, "I need to go put on a clean dress! It simply wouldn't do if I went to the park in a dirty dress." As Lana proceeded to taunt Lola over her obsessive need to be presentable at all times which resulted in Lola getting into an argument with her twin sister, Lincoln chuckled to himself a bit in an amused manner; this was just the twins being themselves, as per usual.

Mornings like these were one of the things that Lincoln missed while he lived as a runaway.

* * *

Later over at the park, the twins and Lisa were playing around on the playground while Lucy sat in the shade under a tree as she wrote in her journal. "Hey girls," Lisa began in a mildly apprehensive tone, getting the twins' attention in the process, "I…I don't suppose either of you knows how our older brother unit is doing as of late, do you?"

"Well Lincoln did win that sword fighting tournament recently," Lola remarked, "And he does seem like his mood's better than it was when he first came back home after running away."

"Good, good," Lisa said, "That's good." As the three younger Loud sisters continued to play, they heard some of the other young kids on the playground scream and otherwise make noise that clearly conveyed feelings of fright. This confused Lisa and the twins until Lola and Lana spotted a familiar certain someone stalking around on the playground as if he owned the place.

"Oh no," Lola said in a hushed whisper of fear, "It's Biff Bizowski! What's he doing here?" Lola and her twin watched apprehensively as they saw the third-grade bully go about the park, coming across an area where two kids were playing; before he even got close, the two kids saw him coming up and promptly ran away before the frightening bully even got close to them. "Girls, we need to go right over to where Leni is and stay right next to her until Biff leaves," Lola said to her sisters in a serious tone, "There's no way that jerk will bother us if we're sticking close to a high schooler."

"What about Lucy?" Lana asked in a mildly frightened tone, "She's somewhere in the park under a tree! She has no idea that Biff is here!"

"Oh geez, you're right, Lana!" Lola said in a worried tone, "She could cross Biff's path for all we know!"

"Lola, Lana, the two of you are both overreacting," Lisa said, her usual dry monotone sounding relaxed and casual, "There is no way he'll bother anyone here at the park. Not with so many-"

"Hey!" Lis and the twins heard Biff's voice shout from somewhere in the park. Looking over, the girls saw to their extreme worry that Biff was staring down at Lucy as she sat under a tree. "You're the little turd that got me in trouble with that older kid with the white hair!" Biff snapped as he pointed an accusing finger at the gothic Loud sister, "The hell is wrong with you, getting someone who's better than you into trouble like that, huh?"

"…Yeah, allow me, my sibling units," Lisa said in an unamused tone as she got up and went over to where Biff was harassing Lucy. Despite how frightened they both were, both Lola and Lana got up and went after their brainy younger sister. Within short order, Lisa and the twins arrived where Biff was bothering Lucy.

"Excuse me," Lisa called out in a calm and casual tone, prompting Biff to turn around and see the three younger girls standing behind him.

"The hell do you want, you little snot?" Biff demanded as he turned to face Lisa, cracking his knuckles as he turned around.

"Oh geez, he's cracking his knuckles," Lola said in a hushed, worried tone.

"If you do indeed have a legitimate problem with my older sister Lucy, then why not inform your parents about it so that they can talk to out parents about it, and then we can hopefully reach a compromise?" Lisa suggested, "There is certainly no need to let our emotions get the best of us and lead us to do things that we'll end up regretting."

Giving the brainy Loud sister an annoyed look, Biff said in a sneering tone, "Do you think that you're smarter than me, twerp?"

"…Well," Lisa began, "Seeing as how I don't act threateningly towards girls half my age and a third my size, I have at least one point above you that-" Lisa was cut off when Biff punched her on the left side of her face, sending her tumbling back and her glasses flying. The glasses landed on the ground near Biff, so he walked over and stomped down on them with all of his might, crushing them without mercy.

"Hey!" Lola snapped in an annoyed tone, "What do you think you're doing to my little sister you big meanie?!"

"The same that I'll do to you if you don't zip your lip and show me the respect that you ought to show me, you little brat!" Biff growled angrily as he shook a fist at the pageant winning Loud sibling, making her and Lana back off out of sheer fright. Satisfied that the smaller kids knew that he was their superior, Biff turned back around to face Lisa, who was slowly picking herself back up off of the ground.

"…I believe I can also add 'beating up much smaller girls' to the list I was talking about before you so rudely cut me off," Lisa said dryly, glaring at the third-grade bully as well as she could, given that her glasses were now broken. "Seriously. Do you know how much trouble that you'll get into for-" Lisa was cut off again when Biff punched the left side of her face again, making her fall over onto her back. While Lisa was prone, Biff jumped onto her and started to punch her repeatedly. It was a terrifying display that had the twins and Lucy too afraid to even move.

"Alright, you little turd," Biff growled in self-assured superiority, "Got any last words before I rearrange your face?!"

"…The Aristocrats," Lisa replied in her usual dry monotone, ever defying the bully and denying him as much satisfaction from beating her up as she could.

"…" Regarding the brainy Loud sibling with a confused look, Biff said, "I have no idea what the hell you're even talk-"

"Hey!" Leni's voice called out, prompting everyone to turn and see a clearly angry Leni come running over, "What do you think you're doing to my little sisters?!"

"Aww crap," Biff said as he got up and proceeded to run away. By the time Leni reached her younger sisters, the third-grade bully already had enough of a head start. Leni wanted to go after the little bully and give him a talking to for being mean to her little sisters, but her little sisters themselves were right here and they were frightened. …Well, Lucy and the twins were clearly frightened. Lisa wasn't acting frightened.

"Lisa!" Leni said in a concerned tone as she knelt over to help her little sister up, "Are you, like, okay?"

"…Well other than the fact that a Neanderthal thought that it would be a good idea to use my face as a punching bag, nothing's up," Lisa replied dryly.

"I don't think we can come to this park anymore," Lana said in a worried and frightened tone, "There's no telling when Biff will come back to assert his dominance again."

"…You're seriously going to let a cowardly brute like him terrorize not just you but everyone else here at the park?" Lisa asked, surprised by what her tomboyish older sister was saying, "Lana, you beat up three fifth-graders on your own a few weeks ago. I'm surprised that you of all people would be afraid of just one lone bully who, need I point out, is younger than the three aforementioned fifth graders."

"Those fifth graders were nothing," Lana remarked wit ha dismissive wave of her hand, "This is Biff Bizowski we're talking about here! Just look what he did to you, Lisa!"

"…I've been on the receiving end of Lynn letting the rush of winning a big game get the better of her," Lisa remarked dryly, "I'll recover."

"Girls, I'm, like, totes sorry, but I'm taking you all home now," Leni said, trying to sound as firm as she could. Luckily for the ditzy sixteen-year-old, the twins and Lucy were all too happy to leave the park as soon as they could. Lisa also wanted to go home, although that was because she had some experiments to work on; she never even wanted to come to the park in the first place.

She wouldn't have been pounded by a Neanderthal if she didn't come to the park.

* * *

"What happened to Lisa?!" Rita exclaimed when she saw her daughters all return home from the park, and noticed the bruises on her second-youngest's face, along with the fact that the frame of Lisa's glasses was broken into a few pieces; the lenses of the glasses could not have been saved.

"Some brute from the playground thought that it would be a good idea to use me as a punching bag," Lisa explained, calmly and without any hint of being upset over what had happened to her, "Also mother, I believe that I shall be needing my back-up pair of glasses."

"Hey, I have an idea," Lola began, "We should get Lincoln to beat Biff up!"

"Hey, yeah!" Lana went on as she liked the sound of her twin sister's idea, "Biff is actually frightened of Lincoln. I bet that Lincoln can totally beat up Biff!"

"Also, Aggro has been totes training Linky in sword fighting," Leni said, "Linky can take that wooden sword that Aggro gave him and-"

"Girls," Rita interrupted in a stern tone, "You are _not_ going to have your brother beat up a playground bully."

"Our mother unit has a point," Lisa pointed out, "All we have to do is let responsible adults deal with this. Keep in mind that letting responsible adults deal with Biff at school has kept him from acting up since the last time."

"Yeah, Lisa," Lana remarked in a knowing tone, "Biff hasn't acted up _at school_. He just makes live for everyone else miserable outside of school." Looking down to the ground, Lana said, "Let's just face it. If we stop Biff in one place, he'll just pick up and continue doing what he's always been doing somewhere else. It's pointless."

"Now Lana, there's no need to get like that," Rita said in a gentle and reassuring tone, "I'll just talk to this Biff kid's parents about what their son has been doing, then we'll work from there." After that, Rita left her daughters where they were as she went to go get the back-up pair of glasses for Lisa. After the Loud matriarch had left, Lisa turned to face her older siblings.

"When mother returns with my back-up pair of glasses, I'm going to be heading straight up to my room," Lisa said, "I've got some work to do."

"Yeah, I think we should have left you here, Lisa," Lola said in an apologetic tone, "Sorry that you got dragged into having to deal with Biff."

"It is a non-factor, Lola," Lisa replied, "Like I said, I'll recover."

* * *

That night, after the rest of the Loud family had gone to sleep, Lisa was still up, sitting at her worktable while her baby sister Lily snoozed away in her crib, blissfully unaware of what her brainy older sister was doing. Lisa checked some handwritten notes before taking a vial containing some sort of purple liquid and pouring it into a beaker that contained some sort of blue liquid. When a wisp of red smoke came out of the beaker as a result, Lisa smiled.

"…Yes," Lisa said quietly to herself, "That will do nicely."

The brainy Loud sibling then poured the contents into a tray of some sort, then she carefully took that tray and put it into a machine of some sort. After she did that, Lisa changed into her sleep outfit and went to bed, figuring that she had nothing else to do at the time. Later, when Lisa woke up in the morning, she went to the machine that she put the tray into, opened it, and took the tray out. Poking the now jellied form of the liquid that she poured into the tray, Lisa smiled once again.

"…Yes," Lisa said quietly to herself one again, "That will do nicely."

* * *

Over at the park later in the morning, Lisa was sitting in the sandbox with Lola and Lana, both of which looked like the boogeyman would jump out at them at any moment. Lucy was sitting under a different tree than the one from the previous day. Once again, Leni was the older sibling that came to the park to keep an eye on the youngest Loud siblings.

"Lisa, I'm surprised that you would actually want to come to the park," Lana remarked, "Not only did you not want to come yesterday, but when you did come to the park, Biff beat you up! You've got to be the bravest out of all eleven of us, because I'm pretty sure that you aren't the dumbest out of all eleven of us."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence in my intelligence, Lana," Lisa replied casually, "And trust me when I say that after today, we should-"

"The hell are you doing back here, you creepy little snot?!" Lisa and the twins heard Biff's voice shout. Looking over, Lisa, Lola and Lana saw Biff standing in an intimidating manner as he loomed over Lucy, who was still sitting on the ground. Casually getting up, Lisa removed a sandwich-sized Ziploc bag of what looked like jellied candies from her right pants pocket before she strolled over.

"Lisa, wait!" Lola said in a worried tone, "Biff will take your candy if you walk up to him while holding it! Also, where did you get that candy from?"

Having made her way over to where Biff was once again trying to torment Lucy, Lisa said, "Hey, you leave my big sister alone!" Turning around, Biff spotted Lisa standing there, and gave a smug sneer to the four-year-old girl.

"I see you got another pair of those nerdy glasses," Biff taunted, "And why should I leave your creep of a big sister alone? She's a creep and has what I'm going to do to her coming!"

"She doesn't deserve anything bad," Lisa said, sounding as if she were a frightened little girl, "Lucy is the nicest big sister in the world!" Holding up the bag of jellied candies she had, Lisa said, "She was even nice enough to make this candy for me!" Before either Lisa or Lucy could act, Biff snatched the bag of candies from the brainy Loud sibling.

"Well it's my candy now, twerp!" Biff sneered as he took a piece of the candy from the bag and ate it. After chewing and swallowing the piece of candy, Biff said, "…Meh, I've had better candy than this." Pointing in a demanding manner towards Lisa, Biff said, "You better bring me some better candy tomorrow or else I'll-" Biff stopped short as he dropped the candy bag he stole from Lisa so he could hold his arms over his stomach, which was making some sort of growling noises that did not sound from hunger.

"Ooh, my stomach," Biff said, sounding like he wasn't feeling all that well, "Something's wrong with my-" Biff stopped short as a panicked expression appeared across his face. Suddenly, a certain loud and disgusting toilet-related sound came from the third-grade bully when, as swift as a coursing river and with all the force of a great typhoon, he defecated in his shorts, the liquid number two trailing down out of his shorts down the back of both of his legs.

"…Oh no…" Biff said, his tone clearly conveying embarrassment as kids from around the park began to gather to see what had happened, and out of wonder what that smell was.

"Hey, look!" one random boy shouted as he pointed at the third-grade bully, "Biff Bizowski just pooped in his shorts!"

"Eww! That's super gross!" another random boy said as he and a number of other kids began to point and laugh at the humiliated Biff, who proceeded to turn around and run away, crying out of embarrassment. After Biff was gone and the gathered kids began to disperse, Lucy got up and, while carefully avoiding the area where Biff soiled himself, walked over to her younger siblings.

"…I never made you any candy, Lisa," Lucy pointed out dryly.

"I know," Lisa replied, "That was a just a lie on my part. It was part of a gambit I pulled off in my plan to teach that oafish brute some humility."

"So, wait a minute there," Lana said with a confused look on her face, "Your plan was to trick Biff into eating candy that made him poop himself?" With an amused chuckle, Lana said, "Lisa, that was pretty funny."

"It was pretty gross," Lola stated.

"What are you going to do with the rest of that candy?" Lucy asked as she pointed to where the bag of candies laid, a good foot or so away from Biff's accident, "I mean, if anyone else-"

"I'm going to keep the rest of it," Lisa stated, "I'm still working on the laxative candy, and it would never do if I left a prototype out where it could potentially cause trouble."

"Well alright," Lana said as she pumped a fist into the air, "Biff's been humiliated, so now he's not going to want to show his face anytime soon!"

Taking out a vial that was closed off with a cork, along with a thin wooden tongue depressor that could fit in the vial, Lisa said as she approached where Biff had his accident, "Now all I need to do is gather a sample so I can study the effects of someone having taken some of the laxative candy as it currently is right now."

"EWWWWW!" Lola exclaimed in disgust.

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Author's notes:

I figured that a breather/filler chapter was called for, especially since I've been wanting to show some behavior from the Loud girls that is present in the series proper. Also, I've been wanting to show a chapter where there's a problem that the Loud girls are able to handle by themselves without getting Lincoln involved. Anywho, the next chapter should see more development when it comes to Lincoln learning to forgive his family. And before anyone says anything, in regards to the line about Lynn letting the rush of winning a big game get the better of her, she was so excited about winning that game that she acted without thinking, causing an accident that she apologized for right away.

Think you know which sister Lincoln will forgive next? Vote now on your phones.


	15. Chapter 15

Pre-chapter author's note: I keep seeing how people in the comments keep asking why Lincoln apparently hasn't forgiven Lily yet, and that he should just let her off the hook already, given that she's a baby and thus doesn't know any better (or words to that effect). Here's a bit of a spoiler alert; Lincoln has _already_ forgiven Lily. He forgave her the same day that he forgave Lucy, shortly after all of the Loud siblings had dinner that night. (The reason why Lincoln didn't forgive Lily right away is because he still felt emotionally conflicted towards the family as a whole at the time; once he forgave Lucy, Lincoln started to calm down a little, at least enough to realize that not letting Lily off the hook was pretty pointless, due to Lily being a baby.) It's just that Lincoln having already forgiven Lily just hasn't been revealed in-story yet, and won't be for the next couple of chapters. Now then, with that out of the way, here's chapter fifteen.

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image

Chapter fifteen: Shocking Turns

Lincoln Loud was in the backyard of his ex-family's home in Royal Woods, Michigan, one well enough morning. The white-haired boy was practicing Kendo moves on his own, using Starlit Sky, the bokken his kendo instructor Aggro gave him, to practice the moves with. After the latest in a series of swings too numerous for Lincoln to keep track of, he decided to take a break. "Wow, Lincoln," the familiar voice of Lincoln's sister Lynn called out, getting the sole Loud boy to turn around and see his sporty older sister standing there.

With an impressed smile on her face, Lynn said, "You were practicing for a good half-hour, bro. I never thought that you would ever take something like a sport or a martial art seriously."

"…I can't really blame you for thinking that, Lynn," Lincoln replied as he walked over to where the carrying case for Starlit Sky laid on the ground. Slipping his bokken back into its case, Lincoln turned to face Lynn and continued, "I take it that you're going to be practicing one of your sports here in the backyard?"

Nodding once in the affirmative, Lynn said as she held up a football, "I'm going to invite Ulfric over so we can work on our skills in football. I'm thinking of setting a tire up on its side so that I can try to throw the football through the hole in the middle. You know, to work on my aim."

"Sounds like a pretty solid idea," Lincoln replied, "I'm guessing that you and Ulfric have a game coming up?"

"Oh yeah!" Lynn said, "Ever since the RWMS football team got its numbers back up, we've been training like crazy for our debut game since we had to surrender a few games in order to get our numbers back up. The first game is this Friday!"

Lincoln could tell that Lynn was really happy right now; her football team was finally going to start seeing some action again. Lincoln bet that due to all of the time off they had to take, the players of the RWMS football team were going to explode with energy when the game this Friday kicked off. The sole Loud boy bet that it would be a sight to see.

"…What time is the game?" Lincoln asked.

"What time?" Lynn repeated in a mildly confused tone, "Umm, it's at six. Why do you ask?"

"Six this Friday, huh?" Lincoln remarked as he considered what his sister told him. Giving Lynn a more direct look, Lincoln said, "…Yeah, that'll work. I'll come by to watch the game if you want me to."

"You…" Lynn said in a shocked tone, one that conveyed that the sporty Loud sibling was touched, "…You actually want to-"

"THIS IS, LIKE, TOTES UNFAIR, DAD!" Leni shouted, clearly sounding upset, from within the Loud family residence, cutting Lynn off and making both her and Lincoln turn to face the house, both of them wearing confused expressions.

"…The heck's going on?" Lynn said in a confused tone

"Let's go see," Lincoln suggested as he and Lynn entered the house, with Lynn carrying her football in the crook of her right arm and Lincoln carrying the case that held his bokken in his right hand.

…

Upon entering the living room, Lincoln and Lynn were just in time to see Leni disappear up the stairs to the second floor of the Loud family residence. Meanwhile, Lori could be seen talking angrily to Lynn Sr., the Loud family patriarch.

"Dad, this is literally one of the most bogus things you've ever done," Lori scolded, "What is wrong with you?"

"I'm not caring for that attitude, young lady," Lynn Sr. said in a firm tone, "And I'm certainly not caring for you and your siblings fraternizing with the enemy!"

"Fraternizing with the enemy?!" Lori repeated in a clearly offended tone, "Are you even hearing yourself talk, dad?!"

"Hey Lori, what are you and dad talking about?" Lynn asked in a curious tone, prompting both Lori and Lynn Sr. to turn and face her and Lincoln.

"Junior, Lincoln, now is not a good time," Lynn Sr. said in a resigned tone that sounded mildly frustrated, "I just had to ground Leni."

"Wait a minute," Lynn said in a confused tone, "You grounded Leni? What did she do?"

"Leni literally did nothing wrong," Lori said to her younger siblings, "Although dad is too stubborn and self-concerned to realize that!" Turning to face Lynn Sr., Lori continued, "Seriously, dad. There is nothing wrong with Leni having gone to Odin-Dono's for lunch!"

"Odin-Dono's?" Lincoln repeated in a confused tone, "Wait, isn't that the Swedish and Japanese place that Aggro-sensei's family owns?"

"Yeah, Lincoln," Lori replied in a mildly resigned tone, "It's the restaurant that the Ace family owns."

"And no one in this family will be going over there ever again," Lynn Sr. stated in a firm and authoritative tone, "Likewise, none of us will associate with any of the Aces from here on out!"

"What?!" Lynn said in a confused tone, "Dad, where did all of this come from?"

"Do you _know_ how much business Aloha Comrade has lost over the past few months, Junior?" Lynn Sr. began, very clearly steamed, "We've suffered two drops in average number of customers per week back to back! Sergei had to let go of two dishwashers and the daytime greeter, leaving only two other dishwashers and the nighttime greeter who now has to work fulltime with a pay increase so little that it hardly even matters!" Holding his right hand to his forehead, Lynn Sr. said, "And this is all because more and more customers are being taken by Odin-Dono's." With an annoyed hiss, Lynn Sr. added, "By the Aces."

Lincoln realized at once what his ex-father was talking about; back when his grandfather Albert, A.K.A Pop-Pop, took him out to lunch very shortly after he returned to Royal Woods, Lincoln was taken to Odin-Dono's, seeing the Swedish-Japanese fusion place for the first time. When they arrived at the place, Albert told Lincoln that Odin-Dono's was proving to be some serious competition for the other fusion restaurants in Royal Woods, such as Giovanni Chang's and Aloha Comrade's.

 _Especially_ Aloha Comrade's. The place where Lynn Sr. _worked_.

"…Is that it?" Lynn said to her father in a confused tone that carried a hint of disappointment in him, "That's why you grounded Leni? That's why we aren't allowed to associate with the Aces anymore? The place you work at is losing business to the place that the Aces own?"

"Junior, if Aloha Comrade loses business, then it loses income," Lynn Sr. began to explain to his daughter that was named after him, "And if it loses income, then my paycheck goes down, and if my paycheck goes down, then things will get tight around here."

"So, Odin-Dono's is doing better than Aloha Comrade," Lynn replied, "I fail to see how that is any reason to not only ground Leni but to ban all of us from hanging out with friends of ours."

"The reason why you're failing to see and reason in that is because it literally _has_ no reason, Lynn," Lori remarked to her younger sister, "Dad is just being overly paranoid and competitive since the fusion restaurant he works at is losing business to another."

"I am _not_ being overly paranoid and competitive, Lori!" Lynn Sr. scolded, "And this could affect us all as a family! Don't you realize that?"

"I can see why you'd be concerned because of how your place of work is losing business," Lori began in a grumpy tone, "But that is still no excuse to forbid me and the rest of my siblings from seeing our friends, and it is literally no excuse to ground Leni!"

"I don't care," Lynn Sr. replied firmly, "This is my house, young lady, and you and your siblings will do as I say! Do I make myself clear?!"

"UHHHHG!" Lori exclaimed in a frustrated tone as she threw her hands up into the air, then said as she went up the stairs, "You're literally impossible, dad!" After Lori disappeared upstairs, most likely to go and try to comfort Leni, Lincoln walked to the front door, the carrying case holding his bokken still in his right hand.

"Where are you going?" Lynn Sr. demanded of the white-haired boy.

"I'm heading over to Aggro-sensei's place," Lincoln replied dryly, "With all the noise going on over here, I can't really concentrate on practicing my Kendo kata. Maybe I can spar a bit with Aggro-sensei when I get to his place."

"Yeah, I'm afraid that you're going to have to stop going over for those lessons," Lynn Sr. replied, getting Lincoln to turn back around.

"Really now," Lincoln replied in a cool, indifferent tone.

"Lincoln, the Aces are the enemy!" Lynn Sr. said in an authoritative tone, "And no child of mine will fraternize with them!"

"WELL THEN IT'S A GOOD THING THAT I'M NOT YOUR CHILD, MR. LOUD!" Lincoln shouted, catching Lynn Sr. off guard while making Lynn shrink back out of fear, not to mention worry. Worry that she may lose her little brother again. Turning around, Lincoln said in a bitter tone as he grabbed the doorknob, "You need to have a serious talk with Mrs. Loud when she gets back from work, sir." With that, Lincoln walked out of the Loud family residence, closing the door behind him with such force that it might as well have been a door slam.

After Lincoln was gone, Lynn Sr. looked to the floor, a disappointed look on his face. Looking up from the floor, Lynn Sr. saw the look on his athletic daughter's face. Junior looked sad, upset, and tears were threatening to burst out. Saying nothing, Lynn ran upstairs to her bedroom. The Loud family patriarch could hear Lynn slam the door to her and her sister Lucy's bedroom.

* * *

Later, after spending some time at the Ace family's place sparring with his Kendo instructor, Lincoln went to hang out at the McBride residence with his best friend Clyde. "…Wow, man," Clyde said to Lincoln in a sympathetic tone, "Your dad really tried to ban you and your sisters from hanging out with Astrid and her folks? That sounds like it bites."

"That's because it _does_ bite, Clyde," Lincoln said, "I mean, so what if the restaurant Astrid's family owns is doing better than Aloha Comrade? That's still no reason for the girls and I to be forbidden from ever seeing the Aces ever again, and it's no reason to ground Leni!" Leaning back on his seat on the sofa where he sat next to Clyde, Lincoln let out a frustrated sigh.

Lincoln thought that his ex-mother was starting to show enough competency for him to consider forgiving her for her role in what had happened, and the white-haired boy thought that the same might be extended to his ex-father as well. But after how the Loud patriarch acted earlier, Lincoln felt that his ex-father not only shot himself in the foot, but instead of using a small hand gun such as a Sig Sauer 9MM, the Loud patriarch instead decided to spring for an automatic weapon such as an AK-47.

As Lincoln and his best friend continued to talk, they were interrupted by Harold and Howard McBride, Clyde's dads. "Hey Clyde," Howard began in a concerned tone, "Your father and I need to borrow your friend Lincoln for a bit."

"What's going on, Mr. McBride?" Lincoln asked as he got up.

"We were just called by your mother," Harold explained, "According to her, she was informed by your sister Lynn that you stormed out of the house after a heated argument with your father." With an added hint of concern seeping into his expression, Harold continued, "Your folks are worried that you're going to run away because of the argument you had with your father."

Sighing in a resigned tone, Lincoln said, "No, Mr. McBride, no. I'm not going to run away just because my father is being an overly defensive and controlling idiot who feels betrayed just because my siblings and I are friends with the kids whose family owns a restaurant that Aloha Comrade is losing business to."

"That's…that's an awfully strong opinion you have of your father, Lincoln," Harold remarked, a little shocked and a bit worried about Lincoln's attitude towards his father.

Giving both of Clyde's dads a serious look, Lincoln said, "He grounded Leni just because she decided to have lunch at Odin-Dono's rather than at the place he works at."

"Your…your mother said she tried to call you but that her calls kept going to voice mail," Howard pointed out.

"That's because I turned my phone off because I don't feel like talking to my dad," Lincoln explained dryly, "I…don't really have anything against the rest of my family." By 'the rest of his family', Lincoln meant Lucy, Lola, Lana, Lynn, Pop-Pop and Aunt Ruth; he's still steamed at the rest of the Loud family, although most of that steam is currently aimed at his ex-father.

"Do…do you want to use our phone to call your mother and let her know you aren't really planning on running away?" Harold half-asked, half-offered. Lincoln sighed in a resigned tone and agreed, mostly because even though he was still upset with his ex-mother, Lincoln wasn't really in the mood to hear of Rita being upset.

Like when she had thought that bringing the community center's youth football team to her kids' attention would raise some spirits, only for those raised spirits to be dashed when Lori pointed out how Lynn, probably the only one who would have been interested, was still recovering from an injury to her shoulder blade at the time.

As Lincoln was led out to the living room of the McBride residence by Clyde's dads, Lincoln could not help but wonder…was he _really_ still upset with his ex-mother? Can any son truly stay resentful forever towards the woman who brought him into this world? Granted, Rita played a noticeable role in Lincoln's suffering, and after Lori brought him back home, Lincoln discovered that Rita had sold his furniture because she had allowed her superstitions to get the best of her (the fact that she went and bought Lincoln's furniture back was of little matter). …But the Loud family matriarch had shown nothing but regret for her actions, for her contribution towards the suffering that her only son suffered for the sin of just wanting a few hours of alone time. Rita was truly sorry for what she had done, and at the very least, Lincoln was able to appreciate that.

…Why _else_ did Lincoln try giving playing football (this time for the community center's youth football team) another shot?

After reaching the phone, Lincoln picked it up, dialed the number to his mother's phone, and waited for a response. "…Hello?" Lincoln heard Rita's voice say on the other end, clearly sounding upset for a reason that Lincoln had a good feeling he knew what it was, "Howard? Harold? Did you find my son?"

"Yeah, they did find me," Lincoln replied a bit dryly.

"Lincoln!" Rita nearly exclaimed tearfully on her end, "Oh my god! Where are you?!"

"I'm…over at the McBride's place," Lincoln explained, "Sorry, but after what happened, I needed to get out for a bit."

"Yes, your father told me how you stormed out because you're upset over how he's facing a tough time at work," Rita replied in a concerned tone.

"No," Lincoln began to explain, "The only person who's really upset over that is him. He's mad that the place he works at is losing business to the place that the Aces own. He's trying to forbid the girls and I from hanging out with Astrid and her siblings, and he even grounded Leni because she chose to have lunch at Odin-Dono's rather than at Aloha Comrade."

"What?!" Rita nearly exclaimed on the other end, sounding like she was starting to get furious.

"If you need more than just my word, feel free to ask Lori," Lincoln remarked, "She'll back me on this one."

"Alright, Lincoln," Rita replied.

"Sorry about all of this," Lincoln said in an apologetic tone.

"No, no, none of this is your fault," Rita replied, "It's just…*sigh*…Lincoln, please just come home now. I'm worried that the longer you're out…"

Chuckling a bit, Lincoln said in an understanding tone, "Sure, I'll first just have to let Clyde and his dads know that I'm heading back, okay?"

"Okay, sweetie," Rita replied in a gentle tone, "I'll see you soon." After the call ended, Lincoln hung the phone up and considered the conversation he just had with Rita. She sounded just as worried and concerned for his well-being, and just as regretful for what had happened. Lincoln could also tell by Rita's tone after he told her that he'd come straight home that she sounded relieved, happy, and may even start to cry, but out of happiness. Lincoln wished that Rita had shown this level of caring about him back when the bad luck nonsense was going on.

But the fact that Rita was showing this level of caring about him now, that she had been showing it since the day he came back after having run away…Lincoln wondered if Rita had a feeling about his _true_ reason for wanting to try giving playing on the community center's youth football team a shot. Looking up at the fathers of his closest friend, Lincoln said, "Can I get a lift home, Mr. and Mr. McBride?"

* * *

A few minutes later, the McBride family vehicle pulled up near the Loud family residence. When the car came to a stop, Lincoln got out and stepped onto his ex-family's front yard. The moment Lincoln did so, Lori, Leni and Luna came walking out of the house by sheer chance. "Linky!" Leni exclaimed upon seeing her younger brother. Running up to Lincoln and picking him up into a hug, Leni continued, "I thought I wasn't going to ever see you again!"

"I just went to Aggro-sensei's place to spar with him for a bit, then I went to hang out at Clyde's place," Lincoln explained, "I wasn't planning on running away again!"

"Then why did you turn your phone off, dude?" Luna asked.

"I didn't want to risk having to talk to 'the man'," Lincoln said in a dry and bitter tone after Leni let him go, making air quotes with his fingers when he said 'the man'.

Gasping in a shocked and freaked out tone, Luna said as she looked both ways in a panicked manner, "The Man?! Where?!"

"Luna, Lincoln is literally talking about dad," Lori clarified with a mildly frustrated sigh, "And if that's the reason why Lincoln turned his phone off, I can't really blame him." After the McBrides took their leave, Lori looked down to Lincoln and said, "Lincoln, please. Don't ever pull something like-"

"Girls!" Lynn Sr.'s authoritative voice boomed out from the house, cutting Lori off midsentence. When Lynn Sr. himself appeared from the doorway of the Loud family residence, he said, "I never said that you girls could go out! Especially you, Leni! You're still grounded, young lady!"

"No, Lynn," Rita's voice called out right before Rita herself came out of the house, "I said that the girls can head out to the mall if they want to, and Leni is _not_ grounded."

"Why are you trying to undermine my authority as their father right when the both of us are in front of them?" Lynn Sr. nearly snapped at his wife.

"And what were you trying to do with that authority, huh?" Rita retorted back, "Lynn, there is no reason to keep our kids from seeing their friends, there is no reason to try and end our son's martial arts lessons, and there is certainly no reason to ground our daughter simply because she chose to have lunch at a restaurant other than the one that you work at!"

"Umm…" Lori said in a mildly unsure but mostly confused tone, "Mom, dad, the girls and I will be heading to the mall now, if you don't-"

"I just said that you and your sisters can't go anywhere, Lori!" Lynn Sr. commanded in an authoritative tone.

"And _I_ said that there's no problem with Lori taking Leni and Luna with her to the mall," Rita interjected, "Lynn, what you're doing is absolutely no way to raise our kids!"

"What, so you'd rather that our own children support a restaurant that the restaurant that I work at is losing business to?" Lynn Sr. retorted. As the argument between the two Loud parents (loud both in name and in volume) went on, Lincoln found that he was growing more and more upset with the last line his ex-father had just said; although it's natural to want one's family to come and support you when you're doing your thing, trying to _force_ your family to come and support you while not giving them a choice in the matter, then _trying to punish them when things don_ ' _t go your way_ , is not okay.

Lincoln supposed that his sister Lynn isn't the _only_ Lynn who pulls stunts like that.

Walking over to stand in front of the steps that led up to the front porch of the Loud family house, Lincoln shouted, "ENOUGH!" Having heard someone shout, both Lynn Sr. and Rita stopped their arguing and turned to face Lincoln.

"Lincoln, sweetie!" Rita said in a highly relieved tone, "Thank goodness you came home!"

"There you are, sport!" Lynn Sr. said, "You sure gave us a fright there!"

"Why are you two even arguing?" Lincoln began in a mildly disappointed tone, "This whole argument, to borrow a quote from Lori, is literally pointless, not to mention stupid!"

"See, Rita?" Lynn Sr. began as he faced his wife while gesturing to Lincoln, "Our son agrees with me that it's pointless and stupid to take our business to a restaurant that Aloha Comrade is losing business to!" Turning to face Lincoln, Lynn Sr. continued, "Thanks for backing me up on this one, champ!" Lincoln was, to put things very mildly, offended by the Loud patriarch's self-assured attitude, annoyed by how Lynn Sr. clearly felt that _he_ was the victim here, that he could do no wrong.

That was something that Lynn Sr. was very much wrong about, and Lincoln was about to give him the wake-up call that he needed.

"…Sorry," Lincoln replied in a cool and indifferent tone, "But I'm going to have to side with mom on this one, Mr. Loud." Both of the Loud family parents were shocked by what Lincoln had just said, or rather by what the last part of what Lincoln said implied. Lori, Leni and Luna were likewise shocked by what they heard, and Lincoln saw the looks of shock on the faces of the three oldest Loud girls when he turned around to face them.

"You, Leni and Luna are heading to the mall, right Lori?" Lincoln said, "Would you mind it if I tagged along?"

Realizing that Lincoln was speaking to her, Lori said, "Oh, umm, yeah, we are heading to the mall. You…you can tag along if…if you want." Looking over where her stunned-into-silence parents were, Lori said, "Hey mom, is it okay if Leni, Luna and I bring Lincoln with us to the mall?"

"Oh," Rita replied, still clearly stunned by what she had heard, "Umm…sure, I…I guess."

Lincoln smiled in an appreciative manner. "…Thanks, mom," Lincoln remarked, "I'll see you when the girls and I get back from the mall." The Loud parents were still stunned into general silence as Lincoln climbed into Vanzilla along with Luna and Leni, with Lori taking the driver's seat. After the ancient family van's engine kicked to life, the van pulled out of the Loud family residence's drive way, made a turn, then sped off towards the Royal Woods Mall.

* * *

Over at the mall, Lori, Leni, Luna and Lincoln were going from store to store, checking out the latest in merchandise. "Dudes, you think mom and dad are going to settle down by the time we get back?" Luna asked in a concerned tone.

"I literally hope so," Lori said, "The last thing we need is for our parents to be at each other's throats because of dad's stupidity." As the girls and Lincoln left the store they were just checking out, Lori said, "Anywho, we need to discuss something of a more serious nature."

"Like what?" Luna asked.

"Figuring out how to convince Allison to join the varsity golf team," Lori explained as her tone took on a slightly more serious hint, "She has still yet to join, but if my friends on the team and I can get her to join, then there will be literally nothing that can stop us!" To her younger siblings, Lori said, "Do any of you have any new ideas that may help?"

"Maybe we can get her a jacket she's had her eye on here at the mall?" Luna suggested.

"No, that won't work because Allison's perfectly happy with the one she's got around her waist," Lori replied, "Although you got a good idea there." After thinking about it for a bit, Lori said, "I got it! Maybe we can hook her up with a gift card to her favorite store here at the mall!"

"Or maybe we can get her a CD by her favorite band?" Luna offered.

"Good thinking," Lori said as she pointed to Luna in a commending manner. Turning to face Leni, Lori asked, "Leni, what do you think?"

"What sort of music do you think Aggro likes?" Leni replied.

"Uggh," Lori sighed in a mildly frustrated tone, "This again? Leni, why is it that whenever we talk about how to convince Allison to join the varsity golf team, you instead think about what her twin brother is interested in? We're talking about _Allison_. Not Aggro, Allison. Please try to stay on task here, Leni!"

"She's got a point, brah," Luna remarked in a mildly disappointed tone, "Thinking about what Aggro's interested in when we're talking about helping Lori try to get her friend to join her golf team isn't going to help."

"Sorry," Leni replied as she looked to the floor of the mall, looking ashamed of herself. Lincoln had seen scenes like this many times now, where the girls would talk about trying to snag Allison as a member of the RWHS varsity golf team, and Leni would randomly ask how something can be done to impress Aggro, and the other girls would chew Leni out for getting off subject, and then Leni would apologize and shrink back, just like what she was doing now.

…Lincoln wanted to see if what he was thinking was true.

"Hey Lori, Luna, quick question," Lincoln began.

"What is it, little dude?" Luna asked.

"Does Leni ever scold either you for talking about Sam," Lincoln began, "Or Lori whenever she goes on about Bobby?"

"No, bro," Luna replied.

"That's because Leni literally respects Luna and I when we're talking about our respective loves," Lori explained in a matter-of-factly tone to the white-haired boy, drawing a nod of agreement out of Luna.

"Okay then," Lincoln continued, "Answer me this, Lori and Luna. Why won't you two afford the same courtesy to Leni? I mean, Leni's clearly head over heels for Aggro-sensei, so the two of you of all people ought to understand how…she…" Lincoln trailed off when he noticed the wide-eyed, gobsmacked looks of shock on the faces of Lori and Luna. It was clear to Lincoln, as he looked at the faces of Lori and Luna, that what he was thinking _was_ true; they had no idea that Leni has a crush on Aggro.

Turning to face Leni, Lincoln said dryly, "It appears that I spilled a secret that I didn't know was supposed to be kept a secret. I'm sorry, Leni."

"You spilled a secret, Linky?" Leni asked in a shocked and mildly worried tone, "What was it?"

"Leni, you…" Lori began in a tone that made it clear she didn't believe what she had heard. When Leni turned to face her, Lori continued as her tone acquired a hint of regret, "…You have a crush on Allison's brother? Leni, I'm so…Why didn't you say anything about this before? The girls and I literally could have helped you!"

"Yeah, brah!" Luna added as she sounded a bit regretful herself, "Why didn't you say anything about this before? Lori, the girls and I totally would have helped you out with this! Just like how we helped Lucy with winning over Rocky after that little punk Silas broke her heart, and how we're currently trying to help Lynn with winning over Ulfric!"

"Sorry, girls," Leni said in an apologetic tone, "But after the first time Lori totes shot me down when I was trying to ask what kind of shows Aggro likes to watch, I thought that-"

"No, Leni," Lori interrupted, placing her hands down on Leni's shoulders to get her attention, "I literally should have realized what was going on the moment you voiced your curiosity about whether or not Aggro liked to watch Dream Boat!" To Luna and Lincoln, Lori said, "Change of plans, we're taking Leni to find her a new dress! She's got a crush that she needs to wow!"

"I'm finally getting that dress you promised me back when you sabotaged my driving test?!" Leni said to Lori excitedly as Lori and Luna proceeded to drag her off. Lincoln, finding some amusement in the antics of his ex-sisters, proceeded to run after them to keep up.

* * *

That night, after the three oldest Loud girls and Lincoln returned from the mall, everyone had settled down for bed. As he slept, Lincoln suddenly woke up. Sitting upright in bed, Lincoln gently shook his head. The dream he had was not a nightmare, but it did leave the white-haired boy feeling confused. Getting up out of bed, Lincoln left his room and quietly made his way downstairs, intending on heading into the kitchen for a glass of water.

As he walked past the living room, Lincoln had to be extra careful on being quiet; his ex-father Lynn Sr. was asleep on the couch, apparently the result of the fallout of the argument he had with Rita. Despite him and Lynn Sr. being the only two human males in the house, Lincoln was having a rather difficult time in trying to find any sympathy for dear old…Lincoln immediately changed his mind about finishing that saying, given that he hasn't acknowledged Lynn Sr. as family yet, and after the stunt from today, Lincoln thought that any chance of him forgiving Lynn Sr. was a _rather_ long time off.

Even so, Lincoln was not forgetting why he came down here in the first place. Heading straight into the kitchen, Lincoln collected a glass, filled it with water, then drank the glass dry. Feeling like getting another glass of water, Lincoln proceeded to fill the glass back up again, but he stopped short when he noticed something from the door that led into the backyard; the patio light was on. Curious, Lincoln sat his glass back into the sink before he went over to the back door and opened it. To his surprise, Lincoln found Leni sitting on the patio as she was looking up into the night sky. Leni was so fixated on staring into the night sky that she failed to notice Lincoln having come out.

"Hey Leni," Lincoln said, surprising Leni in the process.

"Oh!" Leni said upon seeing her little brother, "Hey, Linky! What are you doing up?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Lincoln replied in a casual tone. Turning to look up into the night sky, Lincoln remarked, "I can see why you'd think night skies like this are beautiful, Leni."

"Excuse me?" Leni asked, mildly confused.

"You were the one who gave me the idea for the name I gave to the bokken that Aggro-sensei gave me," Lincoln pointed out, "Remember? I ended up naming my bokken Starlit Sky because the night Aggro-sensei gave me my bokken, you looked up into the sky and said how the starlit sky looked beautiful."

"Oh yeah," Leni replied, "Aggro was the one who gave you your fancy wooden sword." Turning to look back into the nighttime sky herself, Leni continued, "Aggro…he sure is something, don't you think, Linky?"

"Well I do feel like he's sort of like a big brother to me, similar to how Bobby and I get along," Lincoln remarked, "But as far as what you want, I'm going to leave that to you, Leni."

"Linky…" Leni said as she turned her head back down and to the side away from Lincoln, sounding a bit upset in a manner that suggested that she wasn't all that confident in herself. The change in his older ex-sister's tone did not escape him.

"Leni, are you okay?" Lincoln asked, clearly sounding concerned.

"Linky, I…" Leni began in same tone she was still using, "…I'm not sure if I'm going to, like, get Aggro to like me."

"Leni…" Lincoln said, starting to catch onto what his older ex-sister was getting at.

"I mean, look at what happened when I went to the party Chaz had a while ago," Leni began, "I lost the first crush that I had! Who's to say that the same, like, won't happen with my second crush?" Starting to tear up, Leni said, "I bet that if I didn't have a stupid brain that was broken, then none of-"

*SLAP*

Everything came to a screeching halt when, to Leni's shock, Lincoln slapped her across the face. It was nothing that the ditzy Loud sibling ever expected out of little Linky, especially so out of the blue like that. However, things started to catch up to Leni when Lincoln put his hands on her shoulders, getting her to focus solely on him.

"Your brain is _not_ broken, Leni," Lincoln said firmly, "It never has been, and it never will be. You have _got_ to stop thinking that." Seeing that Leni still looked a little upset, Lincoln tried another approach when it came to lifting her spirits. "Leni," Lincoln began as a hint of gentleness seeped into his voice, "If your brain really was broken, would you know as much about fashion as you currently know right now?"

"…No…" Leni replied slowly, tears starting to well up in the corners of her eyes.

"And would you also know how to prepare one of the finest salmon dishes that I've ever had the pleasure to try?" Lincoln went on.

"…No…" Leni said once more as teas started to fall down the sides of her face.

"And would you also know how to pick a lock with nothing more than a hairpin?" Lincoln continued, "Or be able to craft an amazingly detailed bedframe? Or being able to trick the owner of a car lot into letting you use one of the cars so you could do a mall run? Or how about having such immaculate penmanship that you're able to write your own name in the grass using the riding lawnmower?"

"I had Lori helping me with tricking the guy into letting me use one of his cars to make a mall run," Leni pointed out in her current self-disappointed tone, "And when I spelled my name in the grass, I misspelled it."

"That doesn't matter," Lincoln retorted, "You did just as much as Lori did when tricking the car lot owner, and the fact that you can write letters in the grass with a riding lawnmower so well is nothing short of impressive!" Sighing, Lincoln said in a sympathetic tone, "Leni, why do you have so little faith in yourself? Especially when the rest of us have so much faith in you?" Giving Leni a gentle smile, Lincoln said, "You're better than you think you are."

"Linky…" Leni said in a touched tone as she gently threw her arms around Lincoln and drew him into a hug. The white-haired boy gently patted Leni on the back as she began to cry softly.

"It's okay, there's no need to cry," Lincoln said, "I'm not mad at you. Nobody is. There's no need to bring yourself down like this."

Sniffling a lot, Leni said, "O…Okay." Lincoln and Leni continued to stay on the patio like that, the white-haired boy continuing to provide comfort and support to the ditzy Loud girl, up until Leni more or less cried herself out. Once Leni had settled down, Lincoln led her back into the house. Closing and locking the patio door behind them, Lincoln then led Leni up the stairs and over to her and Lori's room.

"You try to get some sleep, okay?" Lincoln said, drawing a humble nod in the affirmative from his ditzy ex-sister. "Okay then," Lincoln replied, "Good night, Leni."

"Good night, Linky," Leni said before she headed into her room, closing the door behind her. Seeing as how he needed to get back to bed himself, Lincoln decided to head on over to his bedroom, crawl back into bed, and go back to sleep.

* * *

The following day, the three oldest Loud girls made yet another mall run, and once again, they brought Lincoln with them, although this was mostly at Lincoln's request. All of his friends were busy, and he had nothing going on, so he hoped going to the mall would help him burn some time. As the four Loud siblings walked around the mall, they spotted a memorabilia and fashion store that they decided to check out.

While each of the three girls were checking out different areas of the store, Lincoln was browsing a shelf that some accessories related to a popular anime. As the sole Loud boy looked at the merchandise, he heard a voice call out, "Hey, you're that white-haired kid from the kendo tournament!" Confused, Lincoln looked over and, to his surprise and mild worry, saw Francisco come walking up to him.

"…What do you want?" Lincoln asked, a hint of bitterness in his tone.

"Look, here's the deal," Francisco began, "I wasn't trying to cheat during the tournament, alright?"

"Then why did you?" Lincoln retorted.

"I just said that I wasn't trying to," Francisco stressed, "Someone must have switched my shinai out for the one that got me disqualified while I wasn't looking."

"Pfft, yeah right," Lincoln said in a disbelieving tone, "Like I'm going to fall for a lie like that." Giving Lynn's former crush a serious look, Lincoln said, "What do you take me for, an idiot?"

"I swear that I'm telling the truth," Francisco reiterated, "I wasn't trying to pull anything!"

"I've had enough of this," Lincoln swore as he turned around and began to walk away. However, in a brief flash of anger, Francisco grabbed Lincoln's left shoulder, forcefully turned him around, then grabbed Lincoln by both shoulders. "Hey! Let me go!" Lincoln hissed, more annoyed than anything else.

"Not until you've heard me out and agree with me," Francisco replied, trying to leave the white-haired boy without any other options. However, unbeknownst to Francisco, Lincoln actually had other options. Three options, to be exact, and by chance one of them came walking around to where Lincoln was looking at the shelf lined with accessories.

"Hey!" Leni said upon seeing her little brother being bothered by a kid that was slightly older than him, "What do you think you're doing with Linky?" With Francisco distracted by Leni's sudden appearance, Lincoln had just the time he needed to carry out his plan on getting out this mess, a plan that was sparked by the aforementioned appearance of his older ex-sister.

"Leni! Help!" Lincoln said in a (mock) panicked tone, "This older kid is trying to hurt me because I'm refusing to shoplift something for him!"

"He's doing what?!" Leni said, clearly angry, right before she started coming over at running speed. Seeing that he had no other option, Francisco let go of Lincoln and hightailed it out of the store, getting away just before Leni could get to him. The meanie-pants bully who tried to pick on her little brother may have gotten away, but Leni had something of much greater importance to attend to.

"Linky, are you okay?" Leni asked as she got down on one knee to be at Lincoln's level so she could give him a quick check.

"A bit rattled, but otherwise I'm fine," Lincoln replied, still sounding like he was frightened but was starting to calm down (he was still just pretending to acted rattled). Once returning to his regular tone, Lincoln said, "Thanks for the save, Leni. I thought that I might have gotten into some serious trouble back there."

"No one's going to hurt you so long as I have anything to say about it," Leni said in a determined tone as she got back up, "Come on, we have to totes meet back up with Lori and Luna."

"Right," Lincoln replied, giving Leni an obedient nod.

* * *

After the four Louds were done with their mall run, they left the mall and could be seen heading towards Vanzilla in the Royal Woods Mall parking lot. "Did you recognize who the kid that tried to force you into shoplifting for him was?" Lori asked Lincoln as he and Leni told Lori and Luna about what had happened.

Lincoln, worried that Lynn might get herself into some serious trouble upon hearing what had happened, shook his head. "I think that he was one of the kids from the kendo tournament, but I can't remember his name," Lincoln replied, "I'm not even sure if he really _was_ one of those kids from the tournament or not."

"It's still bogus that a bully nearly threatened you into shoplifting for him," Luna said, clearly upset by what had (apparently) happened. However, Luna calmed down a bit when she said, "It's a good thing Leni saw what was happening before it could actually happen." Turning to face her ditzy older sister, Luna shot her a thumbs-up while saying, "Good job on saving the bro there."

"Oh, speaking of Linky," Leni said as she turned around, prompting the group as a whole to stop in their tracks, "I found something I bet he'll totes love!" Reaching into one of the shopping bags she was carrying, Leni fished around for a bit before she pulled out a small black rectangular box that had a clear plastic circle showing what was inside; a gold ring with some sort of elaborate writing along the edge, and the ring was on a silver chain. "It's a replica of that magic ring thing from those movies that Linky and his friends like so much," Leni explained to the group as a whole as she handed the gift to Lincoln, "And he does need to accessorize more, so I figured that he'd like it."

"Oh yeah," Lori began to remark, "Lincoln likes watching those movies." With a sideways glance, Lori added, "I'd be lying if I didn't admit to liking those movies myself."

Looking at the fantasy movie-related accessory his older sister got him, Lincoln was surprised. The white-haired boy actually sort-of always wanted a real-life version of this ring, minus the evil powers of course. And now, thanks to Leni, he got it. "Wow, Leni," Lincoln said at length, "Thanks. This…this is actually rather surprising." Looking back up to Leni, Lincoln said, "Umm, I'll try getting this out of the box when we get back, so until then, can you put it back into the bag you got it out of? I don't have a bag myself that I can carry it in."

"Sure thing, Linky," Leni replied in an understanding tone as she received the box back from Lincoln, then put it back into the bag she got it out of. Once that was done, the girls and Lincoln went back to heading over to Vanzilla so that they can leave the mall and head back to their family's residence.

* * *

That evening at the Loud family residence, Lori and Leni were up in their room, doing what they would respectively normally do; Lori was on her phone talking to Bobby, and Leni was working on something at her sewing machine. As the two oldest Loud girls went about their usual activities, they both heard someone knocking at their bedroom door. "Who is it?" Lori called out as Leni safely switched her sewing machine off.

"It's me," Lincoln's voice called from the other side of the door.

"Oh, go ahead and come in," Lori called back, and about a second later, the door opened and Lincoln walked into the room. Other than wearing a silver chain around his neck that had the fantasy movie-related ring on it, Lincoln was wearing what he normally wears.

"Aww, you're wearing the thing that I got you!" Leni said upon noticing what her little brother was wearing around his neck.

"Yeah, and that's actually part of the reason why I came here," Lincoln remarked, "I wanted to say thanks again for getting me this, along with saving me from that tight spot at the mall."

"Aww, you don't have to thank me," Leni replied with a giggle, "I'm just happy that you're happy, Linky."

"Heh," Lori remarked, "Modest as always, aren't you, Leni?"

"Lori's got a point," Lincoln said to the ditzy fashionista, "It's just like what I told you last night during our heart-to-heart talk. You deserve a lot more than what you give yourself credit for."

"Aww," Leni said in a touched tone as she got up from her stool next to the sewing machine table, walked over to Lincoln, got on one knee so she was at his level, then gave him a hug. "You're too sweet sometimes, Linky."

"Yeah, I get told that a lot," Lincoln replied. After he and Leni broke away from the hug and Leni stood back up, Lincoln said as he looked up to Leni, "Well anywho, I promised Lola and Lana that I'd help them with setting up a project for school. See you later, sis."

"Bye, Linky!" Leni replied as Lincoln took his leave, closing the door behind him. After Lincoln was gone, Leni said as she walked back over to her sewing machine, "It's, like, totes great that Linky's back home, isn't it, Lori?" As she sat back down on the stool next to the table her sewing machine was on, Leni turned to face Lori and saw, to her confusion, that her older sister has a look of shocked surprise on her face. "…Lori?" Leni said in a confused tone, "Are you, like, okay?"

"Did you literally not hear what Lincoln just called you?" Lori replied.

…

After having left Lori and Leni's room, Lincoln was heading straight for the dining room, where Lola and Lana were trying to construct a baking soda volcano for their project at school. However, just as Lincoln was about to reach the stairs, he stopped when he heard one of the bedroom doors open suddenly. About one second later, Leni came running up to Lincoln and picked him up into another hug, spinning around in place while laughing out of relief. As he was being spun around and hugged, Lincoln's expression morphed into a deadpan one.

But one that had a small smile, one that was knowing and mildly amused.

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Author's notes:

…Well they had a heart-to-heart talk where he told her that she's better than she gives herself credit for, she helped him out of a pinch at the mall, and she even got him something that he's sort of been wanting for a while as a gift, so yeah, I think that Lincoln is justified in forgiving Leni in this chapter, effectively meaning that the half-way point in the sisters making amends with Lincoln has been reached.

I was also able to work in Lincoln forgiving Rita and accepting her as his mother again, which I hinted at a few chapters ago. Anywho, the next chapter will see the eighth one-shot from the collection I keep mentioning being adapted to this story's setting. …However, due to Lincoln's development in this story, not to mention what he went through in 'Broken Mirror', when I make the adaption, I will have to make _a lot_ of changes to the original plot. Also, without giving away too much, the next chapter will heavily feature Chandler and his goon-friends. You've been warned.

Also, before I forget, in case most of you haven't noticed, I got another Loud House story that I'm working on up right now. It's called 'Awkward Hero', and it focuses on Lori back during her tween years, which was her quote unquote 'awkward phase'. Although if you were paying close enough attention to some of the chapters in this story, you'd realize that I was actually sort-of hinting at a story focused on Lori's past.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image

Chapter sixteen: Strengthened Publicity

" _Life is good_ ," thought Chandler, a student at Royal Woods Elementary School, one day during recess as he sat beneath some shade, his hands resting behind his head as he leaned against a wall while sitting on the ground. The eleven-year-old boy thought that he had it made. To his credit, Chandler wasn't too far off the mark. As one of the most popular kids at school, Chandler was someone whose mere presence commanded respect; it was not wise to get on Chandler's nerves, or to otherwise be someone Chandler wasn't all that fond of.

…Still, the conceited boy knew when to pick his battles. For starters, Chandler knew better than to try and start any trouble with Ronnie Anne Santiago; anyone who messed with her would find themselves thrown head-first into the nearest garbage can within a few seconds, and a very sizable percentage (at least seventy-two percent) of the student population of RWES considered pulling a prank on Ronnie Anne to be a very effective method of suicide.

Chandler also had a less-than-favorable encounter with Larry, that white-haired boy who frequently wore orange shirts, a while ago when Larry gave him a glare so fierce, Chandler thought that he was looking into the eyes of a violent killer, poised to strike at a moment's notice. Fearing that Larry might become another Ronnie Anne, Chandler was more than happy to oblige Larry his request of staying as far away as possible.

Also, Chandler had to, for the moment of course, refrain from trying to win over the affections of Astrid Ace, the cutest girl at RWES, because Astrid's violent Viking older sister seems to be under the impression that he somehow creeps Astrid out. Chandler? Creepy? That has got to be one of the most ridiculous ideas ever conceived! But still, the conceited boy was worried that he might take a battle-axe to the forehead or something else like that if he doesn't cool it with gracing Astrid with his presence, so Chandler decided to take some time off from flirting with Astrid so he can come up with a surefire plan to make her fall head over heels for him.

There was something that Chandler had that would keep him occupied, though; in recent events, Chandler's dad, who works at the local sewage treatment plant, is competing with one of his co-workers for a new position at work. This co-worker of Chandler's dad's is the father of Francisco, a boy from Royal Woods Middle School. Chandler and Francisco have gotten into something of a rivalry, trying to one-up each other, and whenever one boy looks good (or bad), it tends to reflect on the dad of the boy in question. Luckily for Chandler, only Francisco has had any bad moments, some of which Chandler may or may not have had a hand in orchestrating.

Seeing as how his family's financial strength is tied to the deal he had going with Francisco, Chandler decided to focus on that for the time being, and focusing on that has paid off so far, in the form of not having been met with any physical violence.

…Who ever thought that _Larry_ , of all people, would ever become as frightening as Ronnie Anne? Shrugging, Chandler supposed that anything could happen. Anywho, as he sat in the shade, Chandler was approached by his two goon-friends. "Oh, hey guys," Chandler greeted in a friendly manner as he got up, "What's up?"

"Hey Chandler," the first goon-friend said, "You know that Rusty Spokes guy?"

"Doesn't his dad work at 'Duds for Dudes'?" Chandler asked rhetorically.

"I've always been under the impression that Mr. Spokes actually owns that place," the first goon-friend remarked, "But that's beside the point. Anywho, Rusty got himself one of those fidget spinners."

"You don't say," Chandler said before he reached into the front right pocket on his pants and pulled out a fidget spinner himself. It was a gold-colored one that looked rather impressive, even though it clearly wasn't made of actual gold (it was made from the same material as any other similar toy).

"Here's the thing, though," the second goon-friend began, "Rusty's been performing all of these neat tricks with his fidget spinner. He's even managed to gather a crowd of on-lookers!"

The expression on Chandler's face changed just slightly, but it was enough to show that the conceited boy did not like the fact that someone other than him was the center of attention.

"Boys," Chandler said to his goons-friends as he casually slipped his toy back into his pocket, "It looks like we've got to put someone back in their place."

…

Over in another area of the playground of Royal Woods Elementary School, a group of kids had formed a crowd around Rusty Spokes as he performed a series of impressive tricks with a fidget spinner toy. In fact, two of the kids in the crowd were Clyde McBride and Zach, both of which were friends of Rusty's.

"Wow, Rusty's really good, isn't he?" Zach remarked as he and Clyde watched the tricks.

"Yeah, and there's actually some reports that those spinners are effective stress-release tools," Clyde replied. Looking back to where Rusty was performing tricks, Clyde said, "I can see how people would think that."

"Stand aside, everyone," a voice familiar to Clyde and Zach called out, although it wasn't a voice they were fond of. Suddenly, the crowd parted, allowing Chandler and his goon-friends to walk in. It had been Chandler who had called out. Pulling his own fidget spinner from his pocket, Chandler said, "Let me show you who a real pro does things."

"Oh great," Clyde whispered to Zach, "Chandler's being an oaf again."

"I wish someone would put him in his place already," Zach whispered back to Clyde, drawing a nod of agreement from the African American boy.

Scoffing in an annoyed tone, Rusty said, "What do you want now, Chandler?"

"I heard talk that you're pretty good at performing tricks with that," Chandler remarked in his casual, cocky tone while pointing to Rusty's spinner, a standard red one. Holding up his golden-colored spinner, Chandler continued with a heavy hint of overconfidence in his tone, "Let's see who's better at this, hmm?"

"You're on," Rusty replied right before taking the first move of the impromptu schoolyard duel. Gently pinching one of the circular pads on one of the outer points, Rusty then flung the spinner into the air; when it fell down, the spinner landed with it's on the middle circle on the tip of Rusty's right index finger, where Rusty proceeded to spin it like he was a pizza maker spinning and tossing pizza dough.

"Ha!" Chandler laughed, "You think that's impressive? Watch this!" Chandler flung his spinner into the air, and then held up his right pinky finger, intending to catch his spinner the way Rusty caught his on his index finger. However, Chandler's spinner landed right on his face with a smack, drawing a surprised yelp from the conceited boy. As a result of Chandler's fail, a lot of the gathered kids pointed and laughed at Chandler.

"Umm…what was that supposed to be?" Rusty asked, clearly amused to see Chandler fail like that so badly.

"Grr," Chandler growled in an annoyed tone, "This isn't over, Rusty." Chandler then proceeded to turn and walk away, his goon-friends following along behind him as always.

After Chandler and his goon-friends were gone, Clyde and Zach turned to face each other where they stood in the crowd. "Man, was that satisfying to watch!" Clyde remarked to his friend.

"You know it, dude!" Zach agreed as he and Clyde high-fived each other.

* * *

"How dare he!" Chandler fumed as he and his goon-friends sat in the school library. "How dare Rusty show me up like that," Chandler snarled angrily, "Someone ought to put him in his place!"

"Maybe we can pull a prank on him that embarrasses him in front of everyone?" the first goon-friend suggested, "I was thinking we can stuff his locker full of garbage so that when he opens it, it spills down on him, covering him. Or maybe one of us can impersonate the announcement lady on the intercom, and say over the intercom that Rusty's mom came to the school to drop off some fresh underwear for him."

"That first idea sounds like something a girl would do when bullying a boy that she likes," Chandler remarked, "As for the second idea, none of us can pull off even a halfway decent impression of the announcement lady."

"How about we frame Rusty as a bully?" the second goon-friend suggested.

An expression of piqued interest on his face, Chandler said, "Go on."

"I was thinking that we can set up a really mean prank," the second goon-friend explained, "And I mean _really_ mean, have one of the girls here at school, the younger the better, get hit by the prank, then we tell everyone that we saw Rusty run off right after the prank took place, thereby implicating Rusty as someone who bullies girls, especially little ones."

With a look of being honestly impressed on his face, Chandler said, "…Not bad, man. Not bad at all. Okay, we'll do that. The question is what girl do we pull the prank on?"

"She'll have to be alone somewhere, so we won't get caught," the second goon-friend remarked, "Plus, the girl has to be so absorbed in some activity that she isn't aware we're around."

"I got the perfect girl in mind!" the first goon-friend said with a snap of his fingers.

…

Chandler and his goon-friends were peeking out from behind a wall, looking at where an eight-year-old girl was sitting alone. She had somewhat pale skin, black hair that was long enough so that her bangs covered her eyes, and she wore a black dress, black shoes, black-and-white stripped stockings and black-and-white stripped arm warmers. The girl was currently sitting on a bench, writing something in a journal she had on her lap.

"It's that weird goth girl who writes a lot of poetry," the first goon-friend said quietly, "I forget what her name is."

"It doesn't matter," Chandler whispered, "She's the perfect-"

"Uhh, Chandler," the second goon-friend interrupted in a clearly cautious tone, "I don't think that trying to set up something mean to happen to this particular girl in our bid to make Rusty look like a bully is a good idea."

Turning to face the second goon-friend, Chandler asked with a mildly confused look on his face, "What are you talking about?"

"Remember when Larry intimidated that Biff Bizowski kid into submission?" the second goon-friend began, "Well, the reason why Larry was so mad at Biff that day was because Biff punched that girl over there in the eye. I was among the crowd of students who watched as Larry made Biff back down."

"Yeah, I remember hearing how Larry intimidated that Biff kid," Chandler remarked, "But what does that have to do with us refraining from using that weird goth girl?"

"That weird goth girl is Larry's little sister," the second goon-friend said.

"That's even better," the first goon-friend remarked, "Larry is friends with Rusty, so if we make it look like Rusty bullied one of Larry's little sisters, then not only will Rusty's popularity plummet because everyone thinks he bullies little girls, but Rusty's friends will abandon him! Larry might even try to do to Rusty what that tomboyish six-year-old girl did to the three of us a while ago!"

"No, I think he's got a point," Chandler remarked while pointing to the second goon-friend, "If there is even the _slightest_ chance that Larry finds out that we're the ones who are behind this, then what he'll do to us in retaliation will make even the worst that Ronnie Anne's ever done look like a mere slap on the wrist." With a gentle shake of his head, Chandler said, "Yeah, this isn't worth the risk, you guys. We'll have to find some other lone girl to target for our plan to frame Rusty as a bully." The two goon-friends both nodded in agreement with Chandler, and followed him away from where they had found Larry's little sister.

* * *

As it turned out, Chandler and his goon-friends failed to find any girl that would make for a suitable target in their plan to frame Rusty as a bully, so the whole 'frame Rusty as a bully' plan had to be abandoned. They instead decided to try and pull off the prank where one of them would use the intercom system, impersonate the announcement lady over the intercom, then say that Rusty's mother had come by to drop off a fresh pack of underwear for Rusty.

Surprisingly, Chandler's second goon-friend is able to pull off a rather convincing impersonation of the announcement lady, and thanks to finding a contact sheet that had Rusty's mother's handwriting on it, the boys were able to forge a note that looked like Rusty's mom wrote it, then left that note plus a packet of underwear that Chandler had bought from the store behind as the three of them made themselves scarce. The prank had worked, to Chandler's mild amazement, surprisingly well.

With Rusty humiliated, Chandler can now sit back and relax, having gotten his revenge for being humiliated himself. It was actually rather fitting that, as punishment for humiliating Chandler, that Rusty be humiliated in return. As Chandler made his way back to class, he thought of how much embarrassment Rusty must be stewing in right now.

" _Life is good_ ," Chandler thought as he walked along through one of the hallways of RWES.

…

The following day, Chandler and his friends were walking along through one of the hallways of RWES. "Hey Chandler, did you hear how that Francisco jerk you're competing with almost got arrested?" the second goon-friend remarked.

"Are you serious?" Chandler replied, his surprised tone clearly indicating that he found amusement in what his goon-friend had said.

Nodding a few times in the affirmative, the second goon-friend continued, "Yeah. Word has it that he tried to force some kid at Royal Woods Mall to shoplift for him, but he was caught by some high school girl who didn't like what he was trying to do to her little brother. Anywho, Francisco was able to get out of getting arrested when his father claimed that there was no way he could have been at Royal Woods Mall that day."

"Well that's lame," Chandler said in a mildly disappointed tone as he snapped his fingers, "I bet that if that jerk had gotten arrested, and the big important guy at my dad's work heard about it, then there would be no way Francisco's dad would get that promotion."

"…I bet the big important guy will still hear about Francisco's near arrest anyway," the first goon-friend pointed out, "I mean, things tend to travel surprisingly fast by word of mouth here in Royal Woods."

"Yeah," Chandler remarked in a tone of agreement, "People here in Royal Woods tend to be rather close." As the three boys walked, they turned a corner to head into another hallway, but the moment they did, they accidentally bumped into a fairly tall student of the school. If his appearance were any indication of what kind of person he was, he seemed to be trying to make himself the new king of the hill there at RWES, similar to what Biff Bizowski was trying to pull back when rumors of Ronnie Anne potentially moving started circulating.

"Hey!" the older student snapped at Chandler and his goon-friends in an aggressive tone, "Watch where you're going, turds!"

"With all due respect," Chandler began as he tried to defuse the situation through diplomacy, "You're just as guilty of bumping into my friends and I as we are of bumping into you."

"Are you trying to say that I should apologize to you?!" the older kid snapped as he raised a fist threateningly, clearly intending to strike at Chandler and his goon-friends if they didn't start sucking up to him.

"Oh yeah, sure," Chandler remarked in a calm, casual tone that carried a hint of sarcasm, "Go ahead and hit the smaller kids that didn't do anything. See how well that plays out for you when the teachers and Principal Huggins catches wind of it."

"None of them will be finding out because you won't be telling them squat!" the older kid threatened, "Do I make myself clear, brat?!"

"…Yeah, I'm only going to give you one warning," Chandler replied coolly, "You should back down and go the other way right now. If you _do_ try to hit my friends and I, keep in mind that we outnumber you three-to-one." Shaking his head gently, Chandler continued, "Do you really think that trying to deal with odds that are that stacked against you is a good idea?" As Chandler's two goon-friends that stood behind him chuckled in self-assured tone, the older kid simply arched an eyebrow, as if he was considering the challenge that the conceited boy just presented him with.

…

About a minute later, Chandler and his two goon-friends were picking themselves up around near a garbage can, with the two goon-friends even having to team up to pull Chandler himself out of said garbage can, into which the conceited boy was thrown head-first. "…With all due respect, Chandler," the second good-friend said, "The three of us did team up to fight that lone first-grade girl, and we _still_ lost to her."

"Yeah, this is going to call for some more drastic measures," Chandler remarked dryly as he flicked a snack cake wrapper off of his shoulder.

"What do you think we should do?" the first goon-friend asked.

Sighing, Chandler began to reply, "Well trying to use physical force, or at the very least implying that we'll use physical force, is not the smartest thing to do."

"How about we just go and tell Principal Huggins?" the first goon-friend offered.

"That'd only be a temporary solution at best," Chandler explained, "Remember when Biff got in trouble for beating up Astrid's little brother Argent? Biff was back to his old tricks within short order after that. Who's to say that jerk that whumped us won't be the same?"

"Yeah, and while were on the subject," the second goon-friend said, "There's something I've been wondering. I haven't seen Biff here around the school ever since Larry made him back down. What do you think happened to him?"

"I head rumor that Biff was forced to transfer schools because a lot of the students here persecuted him because he hit a girl that was much smaller than him," the first goon-friend remarked with a shrug, "And since the girl in question is Larry's little sister, I wouldn't be surprised if Biff gathered his stuff and left out of fear that Larry wanted to try and tear him limb from limb for hurting his little sister."

"…Maybe we might be able to make use of Larry's little sister after all," Chandler said, the beginnings of an idea clearly forming in the conceited boy's head.

"What you mean, Chandler?" the first goon-friend asked, a mildly confused but mostly curious look on his face.

"Think about it," Chandler began to explain to his goon-friends in a casual manner, "The student population here as a whole was simply more or less afraid of Biff prior to him punching Larry's little sister. Then Biff punched Larry's little sister. Suddenly, the student population here as a whole started jeering at Biff, treating him as a pariah who bore a scarlet letter or something else along those lines." Placing his left hand on his first goon-friend's right shoulder and his right hand on his second goon-friends left shoulder, Chandler said in a knowing tone, "Don't you think that we should inform that older kid who whumped us that Larry's little sister said some rather disparaging things about his mother?" Realizing what their friend was getting at, the two goon-friends started to chuckle to themselves.

* * *

The following school day, Chandler and his friends went to work on their plan. First thing they did was find out what the name of the older kid who beat them was. Through their investigation, they discovered that the boy's name was Chris, and that he was held back a year due to missing a lot of classes due to getting into so much trouble. Surprisingly, the marks that Chris got on his schoolwork tended to be passable; he wasn't an academically inclined student by any stretch of the imagination, but Chris would have been a problem that Royal Woods Middle School would be dealing with right now if it had not been for Chris missing so much time at school.

Chandler and his goon-friends also discovered that Chris had something of a problem with his temper, and that it was the main reason why he tended to get into so much trouble at school. That was actually a good thing for the plan that Chandler and his goon-friends were working on, given that the plan was to trick Chris into physically striking Larry's little sister, just like Biff did a while ago. After they got the information that they needed, Chandler and his goon friends began to carry out their plan to get revenge against Chris.

During recess, Chandler and his friends were looking around the playground for their target. "Look, there he is," Chandler's second goon-friend said to the others, pointing out where Chris was at on the playground. The older boy was currently leaning with his back against part of the wall that surrounded the playground, just alone and giving off an air that made the other kids on the playground give him a wide berth.

"Alright boys, follow my lead and let me do the talking," Chandler remarked before walking over to where Chris was loitering. After a few seconds, the three fifth-grade boys made their way over to where the older boy was brooding to himself. Upon noticing the arrival of Chandler and Chandler's goon-friends, Chris sneered in disgust.

"The hell do the three of you want?" Chris began in a mildly threatening tone, "You all want another beating, I take it?"

"No, no, you got us all wrong," Chandler replied, "We just heard something that we figured you'd want to know about."

"What is it?" Chris said in a tone that was one-quarter asking and three-quarters demanding.

"You know that one weird goth girl in the third grade?" Chandler began, "You know, the one with the blinding bangs and she's always seen writing in that little book of hers? Yeah, I heard that she was going to publish some sort of poem in the school newspaper that's a thinly veiled insult to you, and the poem also included a few disparaging jabs aimed at your mother."

"Are you for real?!" Chris retorted instantly, his fuse clearly having been trimmed to a very short length.

"Unfortunately, yes," Chandler replied, "I even heard the goth girl chuckle to herself in an amused tone while she was writing in her book as I walked by her earlier." Shaking his head in a disappointed manner, Chandler continued, "She must have been working on the poem she intends to put in the school newspaper to get people to make fun of you."

"Yeah, I'm going to go educate her better," Chris remarked as he got up from leaning against the wall and walked off, clearly intending to find the girl that Chandler had just described to him. When the older boy had left, Chandler and his two goon-friends turned to face each other. The conceited boy shot his goon-friends a thumbs-up and a grin, clearly amused that their plan was working well so far.

…

Over somewhere else on the playground, Lucy Loud was hanging out with her love interest Rocky Spokes and her and Rocky's friend Argent Ace. "…So yeah, Lucy," Argent said as he addressed the gothic Loud sibling, "Whenever your brother comes over to my family's place for his Kendo thing with my brother Aggro, Astrid tries to ask Lincoln about a friend of his. My sister isn't sure of the name of your brother's friend that she keeps trying to ask about, but from what I gathered, the friend in question wears glasses."

"That would mean either Zach or Clyde," Lucy remarked, "Out of all of Lincoln's friends, they're the only ones who wear glasses."

"Hey, speaking of brothers," Rocky began, "Remember a few days ago when that announcement over the intercom was made, telling the whole school that me and Rusty's mom came by to drop off a park of fresh underwear for him? I think that someone was actually trying to pull a prank of some kind on Rusty, mostly because I found out that the announcement lady was out sick that day, so it's impossible for her to have made that announcement that embarrassed Rusty in front of the entire school."

"You think someone was trying to prank your brother?" Argent asked in a curious tone, "Well who in their right mind would pull a prank like that?"

"If it really was a prank, then it's a rather mean-spirited one," Lucy remarked, "I mean, the first time that my sister Luan pulled a prank outside of April Fool's that could be considered mean-spirited was a prank similar to this supposed prank that was pulled on Rusty, only Luan pulled it on our sister Lori." After a few seconds of trying to remember what happened next, Lucy went on by saying, "Although since Luan pulled that mean-spirited prank in retaliation for some cruel act that Lori did towards-"

"Hey, little miss gloom and doom!" an older boy's voice called out, cutting Lucy off and making her plus Rocky and Argent look over and see Chris stomping towards them. The three third-graders could tell full well that the older boy was in a very angry mood, and that made Rocky and Argent visibly nervous, even though they were not going to leave Lucy, the older boy's obvious target since he had said 'little miss doom and gloom', to fend for herself. "You think you're some kind of jokester, little girl?" Chris said as he pointed a demanding finger at the gothic Loud sibling.

"What are you talking about?" Lucy replied, appearing far calmer than the boys who were sticking around in case she needed to be saved from this supposed bully. In truth, Lucy was actually far more frightened of this older boy than Rocky and Argent combined, although the gothic Loud sibling was also touched that Rocky, despite the great personal risk to his own well-being, was sticking around anyway. Argent was also showing a rather noble gesture by sticking around out of a feeling of duty to his friends.

"I heard that you were planning to mock me in the school newspaper, Crypt Keeper," Chris growled, "The hell makes you think that it's a good idea to mock me?"

"I don't even know who you are," Lucy replied, appearing as the textbook definition of calm even though she was far from actually being calm.

"Don't even try to play dumb, brat," Chris snapped angrily, "Unless you start apologizing and you start apologizing now, I'm going to-"

"Hey, what's going on here?" a male voice called out, prompting Lucy, Rocky, Argent and Chris to look over and see Lincoln come walking up, accompanied by his friends Clyde, Rusty, Zach and Liam. A fair number of students on the playground, their attention having been initially caught by Chris acting in a threatening manner towards the third graders, started whispering amongst themselves upon seeing Lincoln and his friends show up. Chandler and his goon-friends were among the students as they watched the unfolding confrontation.

"Great, Larry showed up before Chris did anything to the girl," the second goon-friend whispered to Chandler.

"Now hang on, this might be interesting," Chandler whispered back, "Let's watch and see what happens from here."

Over at the scene of the confrontation, Lincoln said to the older boy in a clearly unamused tone, "Seriously. Why are you threatening my little sister? Do you think it's fun to pick on girls that are smaller than you or something?"

"Hey, the brat started it by planning to put something in the school newspaper to mock me!" Chris snapped at the white-haired boy while pointing at Lucy, "If anything, this whole mess is all her fault!" Giving Lincoln a look of mild piqued interest, Chris continued, "Say, you're that kid from the football game from a while ago." With a chuckle, Chris continued, "Yeah, you put up one hell of a fight. A damn shame that one girl and her buddy Conan the Barbarian showed up before we could finish our fight, otherwise I would have whooped your sorry little ass."

"…I very much doubt that would have been the result if it hadn't been for my sister Lynn and her friend Ulfric scaring you off," Lincoln replied dryly in a cool tone, "Because unless my memory is failing me, I was winning our little confrontation."

"Your memory must be failing you then, twerp," Chris sneered, "Because no way would I ever lose to a dweeb like you one-on-one."

"…My first move from that fight we had after my sister's team won their football game says otherwise," Lincoln replied coolly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Hey, hey, hey!" an adult female voice called out, getting all of the kids to turn and see Agnes Johnson, the fifth-grade teacher, come walking over at a fairly brisk pace. "What is going on here?" Agnes demanded in a firm tone often used by teachers trying to get students to behave.

"This guy here was threatening my sister and her friends for no good reason," Lincoln explained as he pointed to Chris, "I was just trying to tell him off."

"It's true, miss," Lucy said to her older brother's teacher, "I think that he was going to hit me."

Looking to the older boy, Agnes wore a look on her face that made it clear she wasn't surprised that Chris would try and pull a stunt like that. "Alright, Chris," Agnes remarked in a resigned, disappointed tone, "You're coming with me to Principal Huggins's office. You're already on thin enough ice as it is, and yet you thought that trying to hit a younger kid was a good idea? This is not going to look good for you, young man." The older boy begrudgingly proceeded to follow the fifth-grade teacher out of the playground and into the school building, knowing that he was not going to get out of getting into trouble.

Once Chris and Agnes were gone, things started to settle down on the playground. As Lincoln and his friends started talking to Lucy, Rocky and Argent to see if they were okay, Chandler and his goon-friends came walking up. "Wow, Larry," Chandler remarked in a genuinely impressed tone, "I can't believe you stood up to that Chris jerk and got out of it without a scratch."

"What do you want this time, Chandler?" Lincoln asked, clearly annoyed at having to deal with the conceited boy again.

"Relax, man," Chandler replied, "My buds and I are here because we and everyone else here on the playground saw you staring down Chris. Seriously, that was pretty ballsy of you."

"Hey, did you really fight Chris one-on-one?" Chandler's second goon-friend asked.

"…Yeah," Lincoln said, "I met him at a football game my sister Lynn and her friend Ulfric played in. He was mad that Lynn and Ulfric's team won, and he saw me waiting outside the football field so he decided to try and start something."

"Did you win the fight?" Chandler's first goon-friend asked.

"Technically, neither of us won," Lincoln began to explain, "Lynn and Ulfric showed up part-way through the fight, saw that Chris was trying to attack me, then they both came running over, shouting at him to leave me alone. He ran away before they could catch up to him."

"Were you at least winning the fight?" Chandler's second goon-friend asked.

"I think I was," Lincoln said, "I mean, the first thing that happened in that fight was me dealing a swift kick that scored a critical hit on the older boy's hidden treasure."

"…You kicked him between the legs?" Chandler asked, looking mildly confused.

"He was an older kid that was clearly rather aggressive," Lincoln pointed out, "And I have no doubt that he would have done a lot more to me in our fight if I didn't take the initiative."

"…Yeah, that's fair," Chandler replied in a tone of agreement, "Against scary and aggressive older kids like that Chris jerk, a little bit of dirty fighting is probably the only way to avoid getting a complete and total butt-whooping." To Lincoln, Chandler said, "Anyway, it's still pretty impressive that you stood up to that Chris guy as well as you did. Not bad, Larry."

Lincoln looked mildly confused as he regarded Chandler, mostly because Lincoln could tell full well that the conceited boy was being sincere in praising him. "…Uhh, thanks," Lincoln said at length, "I guess."

"Well anyway, my buds and I will be getting out of your hair now, Larry," Chandler remarked, "Try to keep an eye out for that jerk in case he tries coming back. You may also want to keep an eye out for this one guy called Francisco."

"I'm…already familiar with Francisco," Lincoln replied, his tone sounding mildly annoyed at the mere mention of Lynn's ex-crush, "But…yeah, thanks." With that, Chandler and his goon-friends took their leave, leaving Lincoln and his friends alone with Lucy, Rocky and Argent.

"…Was Chandler actually being civil just now?" Rusty asked rhetorically, clearly not believing at all that the talk that just took place had actually taken place.

"Hey, the less trouble he gives us, the better," Lincoln remarked. Turning around to face his little sister, Lincoln continued, "But anyway, how are you doing, Lucy?"

"I'm fine, although something's bothering me," Lucy replied. Pointing in the direction that Chandler and his goon-friends took off in, Lucy asked, "Why did that one boy keep referring to you as Larry?"

* * *

The following school day, Chandler and his two goon-friends were walking through one of the hallways of RWES, intending to head on over to the library. "Wow, you guys," Chandler remarked to his goon-friends, "I think that trying to abandon my rivalry with Larry in favor of focusing more on trying to one-up Francisco is actually a good thing."

"Given that Larry can go toe-to-toe with the likes of Biff and Chris, I think that you're right," the second-goon friend agreed, "Maybe Ronnie Anne's influence is starting to rub off on him."

"Yeah, and speaking of the Queen of Pain," the first goon-friend said, "I heard talk going around the school that Ronnie Anne actually-"

"There you little turds are!" Chris's familiar voice called out, making Chandler and his goon-friends stop as they saw Chris approach them from the far end of the hallway. "You little bastards set me up," Chris said in accusing tone as he pointed an accusing finger at the three fifth-grade boys, "I know you did."

"The heck makes you say that?" Chandler asked in a defensive tone.

"You tricked me into trying to go after Loud's little sister," the older boy growled, "Then that teacher came out and dragged me to the principal's office!"

"Hey man, I wasn't trying to do anything except tell you the truth," Chandler remarked as he started to feel a little bit of fear, "It's them who are trying to trick you with lies."

"Aha! You admit that you were lying to me!" Chris exclaimed as he shoved Chandler with his hands. Annoyed more than anything else, Chandler shoved Chris back, although this had the result of Chris knocking into a student that just at that moment was turning around the corner, knocking said student over.

"OW!" a young, female voice cried out, prompting the boys to turn and see a young blonde-haired girl that looked even younger than the goth girl from yesterday laying sprawled out on the floor of the hallway. The girl was dressed as a princess, what with her pink dress, long pink gloves, pink heels, a faux pearl necklace (at least Chandler hoped it was faux pearls; what would a girl that age be doing with a necklace made of _real_ pearls? Do you know how expensive a real pearl necklace would be?), and the girl was even wearing a tiara. Right as the boys turned to see that Chris had knocked a little girl over onto the hallway floor, said little girl started to cry.

"Dude!" Chandler exclaimed at Chris, "Why did you go and push a little girl like that for?!"

"Hey, you pushed me into her!" the older boy retaliated.

"I did no such thing, you jerk!" Chandler snapped back. As the boys all started to argue, people started coming out of nearby classrooms, mostly students, but there were two teachers, one of which was Agnes.

"What's going on out here?" Agnes asked, "I can't teach my class if there's loud arguing outside of Oh my goodness a student's been pushed to the floor!"

"Yeah, Mrs. Johnson," Chandler said as he was acting quickly, "Chris here pushed that girl, even though my friends and I were trying to stop him!"

"I didn't push her!" Chris exclaimed. Pointing at Chandler, the older boy said, "This little punk pushed me, knocking me into the girl in the process!"

"Alright, young man," Agnes said to Chris, her tone making it clear she didn't believe him, "I've had it up to here with your misbehaving in school and your bullying of other students. Come with me to the principal's office, even though I'm highly doubting Principal Huggins is in the mood to hear that you're acting up yet again." As Agnes and the other teacher who came out took the older boy to be dealt with by Principal Huggins, the students that were in the hallway were left to converse amongst themselves. The first thing that Chandler did after the two teachers and Chris left was to help the girl who was pushed to the floor back up.

"You okay?" Chandler asked the girl in a concerned tone.

Sniffling a bit, the girl said, "I guess so. But it still hurt when that-"

"Hey, Chandler!" Lincoln's voice called out, getting Chandler and his goon-friends to turn and see Lincoln come running up, accompanied by Ronnie Anne. Having reached Chandler and his goon-friends, Lincoln said to Chandler in a stern tone while pointing to the little girl, "What do you think you're doing with Lola?"

"You know this kid, Larry?" Chandler asked as he pointed to the girl that Lincoln was identifying as Lola.

"She's my little sister," Lincoln replied to Chandler as he gestured for Lola to come over to him and Ronnie Anne. The little princess obeyed her older brother immediately and without question.

"Wait a minute," Chandler's second goon-friend said with a confused look on his face, "I thought that goth girl was your little sister."

"Lincoln has multiple little sisters," Ronnie Anne pointed out, "Along with multiple older sisters. He's got a pretty big family to deal with."

"Speaking of family," Lincoln said to Chandler, "What were you doing with Lola?"

"Some bully pushed her over even though my pals and I tried to stop him," Chandler explained, "I was helping her back up when you and Ronnie Anne here came over."

"H-he's right," Lola stammered a bit as she was still crying, "He was t-trying to stop that mean boy who pushed m-me."

"Huh," Lincoln remarked as he regarded his little sister. Turning to face Chandler, Lincoln said, "I guess I should say thanks for looking after Lola."

"No problem, Larry," Chandler replied.

"My brother's name is Lincoln," Lola corrected.

"Whatever," Chandler replied right before Lincoln decided to take Lola to the nurse's office to see if she was hurt or not. After that, the gathered students began to dissipate, leaving Chandler and his goon-friends alone. "…Huh, well what do you know?" Chandler said to his goon-friends once they were alone in the hallway, "We managed to get that jerk in trouble anyway."

"Pretty sweet, dude," Chandler's first goon-friend said as he and the other two boys shared a group high-five.

* * *

The rest of the school week showed some interesting developments; similar to Biff, Chris had to transfer schools due to having the stigma of being a guy who bullied girls that were much smaller than him. With the older boy gone, a relative peace began to settle at RWES. As an added bonus to Chandler and his goon-friends, they saw their reputation get a boost because of how they tried standing up to the older boy when he pushed a first-grade girl and made her cry.

Chandler, to his surprise, also saw that Larry was showing an amicable attitude towards him now; granted, Chandler and Larry weren't friends by any stretch of the imagination, but the conceited boy could tell that Larry's temper towards him had cooled off considerably. Not wanting to try and push things with Larry, Chandler was more than glad to respectfully keep his distance from the white-haired boy, just as he knew Larry wanted. Besides, Chandler had his budding rivalry with Francisco, something of more immediate importance to the conceited boy, to worry about.

Chandler wasn't dumb; he knew to take his victories when he can get them.

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Author's notes:

The character Chris that appears in this chapter is based off of a female bully character, that was named Christie, from some old Yugioh fanfics that I wrote way back in the day, years before I got started on this site. My older sisters were the only audience of those stories, and I could tell from the kick they got out of reading those stories that they weren't just being nice, they actually enjoyed what I wrote.

When converting the character Christie to this story's setting, I had to de-age her a bit and change her from being a girl to being a boy. Speaking of converting, this chapter is the converted form of the eighth one-shot from the one-shot collection that I worked/am working on. The only major differences are that in the original version Ronnie Anne doesn't show up, Chandler very nearly gets away with pulling a real jerk move, and Lincoln isn't upset with his family.

Anywho, sorry if any of you are a bit disappointed with a chapter that was more or less filler, but I've been wanting to do a bit more development when it comes to this story's setting, particularly focus more on Chandler, since he's got some important stuff he's working on in the sidelines.

As a side note, to those who were hoping to see Chandler get severely punished by Lincoln (I saw comments that would suggest that idea), I'm sorry to disappoint you. But I kind of need Chandler for some later parts in this story.


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

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Chapter seventeen: Best Medicine

One day in Royal Woods, Michigan, over at the Loud family residence, Lincoln was currently in the living room. Due to the circumstances that compelled Lincoln to run away a while ago, Lincoln ceased to acknowledge his family as his family, although for reasons that escaped him (at the time, at least), he decided to give the Louds a shot at trying to make things right with him, to be his family again. So far, the white-haired boy has acknowledged half of the Loud girls and the family matriarch Rita as his family again.

While he was sitting in the living room watching TV, Lincoln heard some knocking at the front door, so he decided to get up and answer the door. When he did, Lincoln was surprised to see Allison Ace standing there. "You…you are Lori Loud's younger brother, are you not?" Allison asked, her tone making it clear that something had put her into a foul mood.

"Yeah," Lincoln replied in a mildly apprehensive tone, "You're Aggro-sensei's twin sister, right?"

"Aggro is my brother, yes," Allison remarked in a mildly strained tone. Sighing, the female Ace twin said, "Young one, can you fetch Lori and your trickster sister for me?"

"I can understand you wanting to see Lori," Lincoln began, "But why would you want to see Luan? She doesn't even go to Royal Woods High yet."

"I…would be having words with the trickster," Allison replied, the strain in her tone suggesting she was having difficulty in controlling her temper, "Lori is required as a mediator, partly because she is a friend of mine but mostly because she's probably the only thing that can keep me from sending the trickster straight to Loki's daughter right now."

Confused by what Allison had said, Lincoln said in a mildly unsure tone, "Umm, okay. Can you wait a bit?" Turning around, Lincoln shouted up the stairs, "Hey Lori, Luan? Can you two come down here? Allison is here and she wants to talk to the both of you!" After a few seconds, Lori appeared at the top of the stairs, then began to walk down.

"Allison!" Lori greeted in a friendly tone, "This is literally a surprise!"

"…Where is that trickster sister of yours?" Allison demanded as she crossed her arms over her chest, her foul mood clear in her tone.

Sighing in a resigned tone, Lori said, "What did Luan do?"

"We shall discuss that once she gets here," replied the female Ace twin as she rolled her shoulders, causing the thin, rectangular leather carrying case over her back to shift around a bit. Upon noticing that case over Allison's back, Lori's eyes widened a bit out of worry.

"Did…did you want to play a round of golf when we're done?" Lori asked in a hesitant tone, "Because I noticed you brought your golf club."

"…Maybe, if my mood has lightened by the time we're done," Allison replied, "And assuming that what is done to compensate me for my troubles is sufficient."

Sighing, Lori said more to herself than anyone else, "I am literally not looking forward to this…"

…

A few moments later, Lincoln and all of the Loud girls minus Lori and Luan were standing as close to the entryway that led into the dining room as they could without risking being seen by either Lori, Luan or Allison, all three of which were inside the dining room. While Lori and Luan tried to placate the angry Ace sibling, Leni whispered to Lincoln, "Hey Linky, why is Lori's friend so mad at Luan?"

"I have no idea," Lincoln replied back at a volume similar to his ditzy older sister while gently shaking his head in an unsure manner, "And given how worried Lori sounded upon seeing that Allison brought her-" Lincoln was cut off when he and the others saw Lori and Luan come out of the dining room with Allison. The female Ace twin seemed to have calmed down significantly, along with seeming mildly bemused.

"It seems that I have made a mistake when it came to identifying you as the guilty party," Allison remarked to Luan, "My apologies."

"Well that spoiled brat Sarah who goes to Royal Woods Middle School with me does have a similar hairstyle," Luan replied, "And her outfit usually has a color scheme that's similar to what I usually wear. I can see how you can make that mistake."

"Well thank goodness that Luan literally wasn't the one who pulled that stunt," Lori said with more than a hint of relief in her tone.

"Dudes, what's going on?" Luna asked, sounding mildly confused.

"Allison was under the impression that Luan had pulled some mean-spirited prank," Lori explained, "I'm not going to bother you all with the details, but the prank resulted in Fenrir and Spirit being freaked out, along with Argent being injured."

"Her little brother was hurt?!" Leni said, clearly alarmed.

"Nothing too severe, I assure you," Allison commented to Lori's siblings as a whole, "But it _did_ warrant a trip to the hospital, albeit only just." Folding her arms over her chest, Allison went on to say, "My brother Alphonse, who goes to Royal Woods Middle School, said that he saw a person whose appearance is similar to that of your trickster sister just outside of the edge of his vision as said person fled after the stunt occurred."

"Well with evidence like that, I can see why you would jump to the conclusion that my older sister Luan was responsible for the prank that resulted in two of your family's pets being freaked out and some minor injuries to your younger brother," Lisa stated, "Luan does have a flare for pulling pranks, and with all due respect, her pranks can get rather… _excessive_. Although to Luan's credit, her pranks outside of April Fool's Day rarely get to a level that would warrant swift intervention from outside forces before said pranks get out of hand."

"…I see," Allison remarked, "This seems like something I shall have to learn more about later. Now then, I am going to return home so I can ask Alphonse about this Sarah girl who goes to the middle school, same as him, Luan and various classmates. Good day." Allison then turned to leave the Loud family residence, opening the door and closing it behind her. After the female Ace sibling had left, Luan sighed in relief.

"Wow, that was a close one, huh?" Luan remarked, getting the other Loud siblings to all turn to face her.

"Yes, but this incident brings up a valid point that the rest of us have literally needed to bring to your attention," Lori replied.

"Which would be…" Luan replied, trailing off in a manner that showed she was expecting to be filled in.

"Your pranks tend to get a little excessive from time to time, brah," Luna explained, "Most of your pranks outside of April Fool's aren't anything too bad on their own, but you tend to pull _a lot_ of those kinds of pranks. Then there are your April Fool's level pranks."

"If Allison, or maybe one of her younger siblings depending on the sibling in question, were to fall victim to one of your April Fool's level pranks," Lori said, "Then Allison would threaten to, as she puts it, send you straight to Loki's daughter."

"If you had any familiarity with Norse myth, then you would realize that Allison's threat is far more severe than our older sister unit's standard threat of turning someone into a human pretzel," Lisa explained to Luan in her usual dry monotone.

Luan looked to the floor, clearly feeling regret and guilt for her actions. "I'm…" Luan said in a fairly quiet tone, one that was barely understandable, "…I'm sorry."

"Pfft, whatever," Lori scoffed in an indifferent tone as she and the others all began to disperse throughout the rest of the house, returning to what they were doing prior to Allison coming by for her little visit. This left Luan alone where she stood, still looking guilty.

…But then again, the comedic Loud sibling _was_ feeling guilty, so that was understandable.

* * *

Later that evening, Lincoln was sitting in the living room while the younger Loud girls that he's acknowledged as his sisters again were watching some sort of cartoon on TV. Even though Lincoln, the twins and Lucy were in the living room, they could hear some rather loud music coming from the garage. "UHHG," Lola moaned loudly in a tone of complaint, "Can't Luna and her friends tone it down? The music they play when they practice here is part of the reason why I'm glad that I'm only homeschooled during pageant season. It's too loud for me to focus!"

"…I'm guessing it wouldn't help if I say that it's just Luna and Sam, not Luna and all of her friends?" Lincoln asked in a dry tone.

"Wait, what?!" Lana remarked, clearly surprised, "That's just two people?!"

"Luna and Sam come here and play music like that in the garage to cap off a successful outing together," Lincoln explained. After listening to the music for a bit, Lincoln said, "Judging by the specific music that we're hearing, I'm guessing that Luna and Sam had a particularly fun time on the date that they-" Lincoln was cut off when he felt something in his pocket vibrate, so he reached into that pocket and pulled out his phone. Answering it, he saw that he got a text from Luna; _Hey Lincoln_ , _can you do me a solid and get my Mick Swagger drumsticks from me and Luan_ ' _s room_? _Sam and I are rocking out way too much for us to just take a break_. _Kthx_.

Slipping his phone back into his pocket after having read the text, Lincoln got up from the sofa, a bemused and annoyed look on his face. "…I'm heading up to Luna and Luan's room to grab a pair of drumsticks for Luna and bring them to her and Sam in the garage," Lincoln informed his younger sisters in a dry, unamused tone.

"Tell her to get the drumsticks herself, Lincoln," Lola replied, "Luna's legs aren't broken."

"I actually kind of have to use the bathroom," Lincoln said, "So I was going to have to get up anyway. I'll just pick up the drumsticks on my way back down." The younger Loud girls asked Lincoln to come back as soon as he can, because they wanted him to continue watching cartoons with them. The white-haired boy was touched by the younger Loud girls' collective desire for him to spend as much time with them as possible.

Especially since they had all asked, rather than try to force it.

…

After having used the bathroom, Lincoln made a turn to Luna and Luan's room, where he saw that Luan was laying on her bunk on the bunk bed that she and Luna shared. The comedic Loud sibling was laying with her back turned so that she was facing the wall that the bunkbed was up against. "Hey Luan?" Lincoln called out gently from the doorway of Luna and Luan's room, "I'm here to pick up a pair of drumsticks for Luna."

Having heard her younger brother's voice speak up, Luan turned around and sat upright on her bunk. To Lincoln's immediate shock and mild worry, the comedic Loud sibling looked like she had been crying a fair amount. "…Luan? Are you okay?" Lincoln asked in a concerned tone.

"I…" Luan began to reply, but she trailed off from what she was going to say, sniffling a bit in a clearly upset manner. This compelled the white-haired boy to head over and try and talk to his comedic older ex-sister, sitting down on her bed next to her.

"…Are you upset because of what all of us said earlier concerning your pranking habit?" Lincoln asked in a gentle tone.

"It's…It's just l-like when you all g-got mad at me before my g-gig at The Chortle P-Portal," Luan said, her crying, which was gentle now, making her stammer a bit.

"Well with all due respect, you _were_ going a bit overboard with the jokes prior to that," Lincoln remarked, "The issue that the girls and I have with your pranks is that you not only tend to pull _a lot_ of them, but some of them, especially the ones that you tend to pull on April Fool's, tend to be rather harsh. And Lori made an excellent point earlier about how you're lucky those harsh pranks tend to be aimed at the rest of this family. If someone from outside of the family got hit by one of your April Fool's level pranks, who knows what they'd do in retaliation?" With a gentle shake of his head, Lincoln continued, "And that brings up one of the reasons why I was so worried that one April Fool's when you called Ronnie Anne over. If she had fallen for any of the pranks that you had set up, who knows what she would have done to you? What she would have done to _me_ since you're my…" Stopping himself short when he realized what he was about to say. "…Since you and I are related to each other?" the white-haired remarked, most of the emotion that his tone was building up dissipating and being replaced with the cool, indifferent tone he's been known to use.

Lincoln's mini-rant just now made Luan more upset than she was, partly because it made her realize how far she tends to go, but mostly because Luan noticed that Lincoln almost referred to her as a sister, only to catch himself and word what he was saying specifically to avoid actually calling her his sister. It was clear that the white-haired boy was still upset with Luan for her part in driving him to the point that he decided to run away from home, and the fact that he took great care to avoid referring to her as a sister had a great deal to do with Luan's upset feeling. So much so that the comedic Loud sister's crying started to return in full. Seeing this, Lincoln sighed in a resigned tone.

"Luan, look," Lincoln began in a gentle, sympathetic tone, "Just like it was back before your gig at The Chortle Portal, the girls and I don't want you to give up on your passion for comedy. However, we _would_ appreciate it if you pulled pranks less often than you usually do. We would also appreciate it if you cut it out with the April Fool's level pranks altogether, because quite frankly, the pranks that you pull at that level go way too far. You don't have to give up on pranks entirely, but you _should_ ease up on how often you pull pranks, as well as how much effort you put into them, alright?"

Sniffling a bit, Luan replied in a bit of a stammer, "A-alright, L-Lincoln, I'll e-ease up on h-how often I pull p-pranks. I'll a-also try to s-stop it with the b-b-bigger pranks."

Smiling gently, Lincoln said, "That's all the girls and I really want, Luan. And hey, if you use your comedy sparingly, you'll run a lower chance of running low on material."

"Heh," Luan remarked as she wiped a tear from the corner of her right eye, her tone sounding like she was starting to feel better, "I never thought of it like that."

"Well now you know," Lincoln replied as he gave Luan a gentle pat on her right shoulder, "And knowing is half the battle." Getting up from where he was sitting, Lincoln said, "Now then, if you'll excuse me, I've got to find Luna's special Mick Swagger drumsticks."

"They're right there," Luan remarked as she pointed to the drum set in her and Luna's room; a pair of drumsticks were laying on one of the drums of the drum set. Upon further inspection, the drum sticks were decorated with Mick Swagger-related stickers. Walking over to the drum set, Lincoln grabbed the special drumsticks.

"Thanks, Luan," Lincoln replied in a gentle tone. As he left the room, Lincoln said in the same gentle tone, "Try to stay funny, alright?"

Sniffling a little bit, Luan said, "Okay, Lincoln." After the white-haired boy took his leave, Luan laid back down on her bunk. Looking up at the bottom of Luna's bunk, Luan began to think about what had happened earlier that day when Lori's friend Allison came by. But the comedic Loud sibling also gave serious consideration to what her little brother had just told her.

He did raise an excellent point about trying to conserve comedic material.

* * *

The following day, Lincoln was hanging out with his friends Clyde and Zach, playing video games over at Clyde's place. As they played, Lincoln told the two bespectacled boys about the heart to heart he had with Luan the previous evening. "You mean she's going to knock it off with the April Fool's level pranks?" Clyde said, sounding as if what he had heard his best friend say was too good to be true.

"Seems like it," Lincoln replied.

Sighing in relief, Clyde said, "Well thank goodness for that. I still remember when I tried coming over to your place on April Fool's, and I was hit by that one prank your sister had set up. Man, it took forever to get all the hay out of my clothes."

The white-haired boy merely smiled in response as he and the other boys resumed their video game playing. While the three boys played, Lincoln realized something; he was playing with Clyde and Zach, both of his friends who wore glasses. And a while ago, Astrid Ace had pretty much told Lincoln that she had a crush on one of those two bespectacled boys; she wasn't being all that clear on the matter, though.

"…Hey Clyde, Zach," Lincoln began, "How are Haiku and Giggles doing?"

"I haven't seen much of Giggles as of late," Zach replied, "I mean, I know she's doing well, but she and I haven't hung out a lot in a while."

"I talked a bit with Haiku at school last week," Clyde remarked, "Apparently Haiku had some sort of falling out with a friend of hers because she thought Haiku hoping to be in a relationship with a vampire is unrealistic. I just told Haiku to keep on trucking." With a chuckle, Clyde continued, "I mean, I know what it's like to have your heart set on a relationship that seems borderline impossible to attain."

Well both boys seem to be available, but Lincoln was a bit hesitant to bring up that a girl may potentially have a crush on one of them. Still, Lincoln felt he owed it to the white-haired Swedish and Japanese girl, so he was going to push. "…One of Ronnie Anne's friends from the birthday party I was taken to a while ago said that she has a crush on one of you," Lincoln said to his two friends.

"A girl has a crush on me?" Zach asked, clearly looking surprised.

"I'm not sure if it's you specifically," Lincoln clarified, "And she didn't technically admit to the crush. But when she was talking about my 'friend with the glasses' as she put it, she said that he was, and I'm quoting her on this one, a _far_ nicer boy then that Chandler creep. I also saw the look on her face when she was talking about one of you, and she looked like Lola when she talks about Winston, or Lori when she talks about Bobby." With a nod, Lincoln continued, "I can tell when a girl has a crush on a boy due to all of my sisters, and the friend of Ronnie Anne's I talked to was showing all the signs of having a crush on either you or Clyde."

"Well it doesn't take too much to be better than Chandler," Clyde remarked with a chuckle. Giving Lincoln a curious look, Clyde asked, "So how do we figure this out?"

"Well first I have to go over this with Ronnie Anne," Lincoln began, "Discus a game plan with her. Then, we'll set up a-"

"Excuse me, boys," Clyde's dad Harold said as he peeked into the room the boys were in, "But I'm afraid that Lincoln needs to go home now. I just got a call from his mother telling me that there's been some sort of family emergency."

"A family emergency?" Lincoln repeated, his tone making it clear that he was alarmed. Flipping his hand-held game system closed, Lincoln said to his friends as he got up, "Sorry, Clyde and Zach, but we're going to have to talk more about this later. I'll talk to you guys more at school tomorrow."

"Take care, man," Zach replied, "And hey, I hope the emergency with your family isn't anything too severe."

"Give your folks my regards, alright?" Clyde said as he shot Lincoln a thumbs-up.

Lincoln smiled, appreciative of the fact that his friends had his back. "Thanks, you guys. Take care!" With that, Lincoln took his leave and went home. However, the white-haired boy could not help but worry what had happened; was there an accident at his ex-father's work, or maybe Lori was involved in a traffic accident? Lincoln sincerely hoped that the emergency wasn't one of the girls dying, especially one that Lincoln hasn't yet reconciled with.

That would break Lincoln's heart.

* * *

As it turned out, there was an incident over at Sunset Canyon Retirement Home, the retirement home where Albert, A.K.A Pop-Pop, resides. Due to a screw-up on part of one of the nurses working there (not Sue), at least half of the seniors that reside at Sunset Canyon got rather sick, and _all of the seniors in question_ had to be taken to the hospital for treatment. One such senior was Albert, although according to all reports he is one of the livelier seniors who needed to be taken to the hospital for treatment, and judging by said behavior on Albert's part, he'll be able to recover from his sickness just fine.

…That did not stop the staff of Sunset Canyon from worrying, and it certainly did not stop the Loud family from worrying about his well-being, especially since, to the total shock of Albert's family, at least two of the sick seniors had died due to getting sick. To say that the nurse who is responsible for the screw-up that caused this mess in the first place is in trouble would be a bit of an understatement.

"…Girls," Lincoln said a bit dryly, as some of the Loud girls (especially some of the younger ones) were freaking out about their grandfather, "Pop-pop is going to be fine. He's been through worse due to eating some of Mr. Loud's cooking that one time he came over and had dinner with us sometime before my…extended absence."

"Yeah," Luna remarked in a mild tone of agreement that had a hint of worry, "The goulash dad made back then was pretty sick. And not sick in the cool sense."

"Exactly," Lincoln said as he pointed to Luna while still facing the girls as a whole, "Pop-Pop is loads tougher than you girls give him credit for. He's going to pull through this no problem! You all ought to have more faith in him."

"Lincoln is literally right, girls," Lori said while turning to face the other Loud girls, "Besides, from what mom said before she and dad left to go see how Pop-Pop's doing at the hospital, Pop-Pop is acting just as lively as he always is. Some of the doctors even think that there isn't much need for him to be treated."

"You both raise excellent points," Lisa stated, "But keep in mind that this _is_ our maternal grandfather that we're talking about here. Regardless of how much constitution he has, it is only natural for us to be worried about him if we hear that that he's been taken to the hospital for medical treatment."

Most of the other girls, admitting to Lisa's point, seemed to be very upset with what Pop-Pop was going through right now. Seeing all of the worried, and dare she say sad, looks on the faces of the girls, Luan suddenly strode forward to stand in front of the group, a determined look on her face. "Yeah, I'm not going to stand for anyone in this household wearing their smiles upside down," the comedic Loud sibling said, both her expression and tone carrying strong amounts of determination. Pointing in the direction of the living room, Luan said, "Everyone, living room, now. I'll be out in a few minutes once I get a routine ready."

"Yeah, I'm literally going to have to say no to that," Lori said in a firm tone, "We're all still mad at you because of what we talked about yesterday after Allison had left."

"She's got a point, brah," Luna remarked to Luan, her tone being similar to Lori's, "You're lucky that it wasn't really you who pulled that stunt that compelled Lori's friend to want to call the wrath of her gods down upon you." Most of the other Loud girls regarded Luan with a more or less disappointed look, which seemed to bring Luan's mood down a bit. Seeing this, Lincoln turned around as if he were preparing to head out to the living room.

"…Yeah, I'm going to go get one of the good seats before the mad stampede to the living room happens," Lincoln remarked as he began to walk.

"Lincoln?" Lola said in a confused tone, wondering what her older brother was doing.

Stopping in place, Lincoln turned around to face the girls. "…Well you heard what Luan said," Lincoln said to the girls as a whole, "There's going to be a stand-up comedy show in the living room in a few minutes. I say that we should try to get the better seats before they're all taken up." Turning around so he could continue heading to the living room, the white-haired boy said in a mildly dry tone, "Try not to be last getting to the living room."

After Lincoln went into the living room, the Loud girls all looked to each other, giving each other looks that were a mix of confused and surprised. …Well, the girls aside from Luan had those kinds of expressions; Luan herself seemed touched that her little brother seemed to be going to such lengths for, then a hint of giddiness seeped into the comedic Loud sibling's face when the other Loud girls all started filing into the living room.

* * *

Eventually, all of the Loud siblings minus Luan had seated themselves in the living room. Lincoln was sitting in the middle seat of the sofa, with Leni on his left and Lynn on his right. Lori was sitting on the armrest next to Lynn, Luna was sitting on the armrest next to Leni, Lily was seated on Luna's lap, Lisa was sitting on the floor in front of the sofa with Lana on her left and Lucy on her right. Since there wasn't a whole lot of room, Lincoln allowed Lola to sit on his lap; the six-year-old princess was quite happy that her big brother allowed her to do that.

After all of the other Loud siblings were seated, Luan came walking out in front of them. "Thanks for coming out everyone," Luan said to her audience, "Seriously. Anywho, did you all hear about those fidget spinner things? They were pretty popular when they first came out. Now you can't go to the local grocery store without seeing bins full of them, marked at an average of two dollars a pop. I bet that a ninja can buy like a dozen of them, and then lob them at targets like they were those little throwing stars of theirs!"

Surprisingly, some of the Loud siblings began to laugh due to imagining ninjas throwing those little spinners at opposing ninjas as if they were shuriken. Luna found the idea to be particularly funny for some odd reason. "But enough of that," Luan went on, "Did you hear about this dangerous thing that teens on the internet have been doing that involves daring each other to put laundry pods in their mouths? You know, a few decades ago, people were saying that in the future, cars will fly. Well now it's the future, and we're having to tell people not to eat laundry cleaning agents." Holding her arms out at arm's length, Luan said, "Welcome to the future!"

This was also met by laughs from the other Loud siblings, all of which were laughing, although Lily giggled due to hearing her older siblings laughing. Leni, although she didn't quite get why her siblings found what Luan said to be so funny, laughed anyway for reasons similar to why the baby Loud sibling was giggling.

"And last week," Luan went on, "When some friends of mine and I went to Jean Juan's French Mex for lunch, our waiter apparently couldn't decide if he wanted to go for a mime theme or a mariachi theme, so he decided to be a mime mariachi hybrid! That has got to be the most confusing occupation in the world! Either you're way too noisy for a mime or you're way too quiet for a mariachi! What do you do?!" This time, all of the Loud siblings found what Luan said to be funny, aside from Lily, who was too young to know what they were talking about, but the baby Loud sibling still giggled nonetheless.

As the Loud siblings continued to laugh, the front door opened, and in walked Rita and Lynn Sr., both of which looked greatly relieved, even though there was still a very mild hint of worry in their respective faces. Seeing that their kids were laughing, they decided to see what was going on. "Hey kids," Rita said, "What's going on here?"

"Oh, mom!" Lincoln said, "Yeah, we were all worried about how Pop-Pop's doing, so Luan decided to try and cheer us all up by performing a comedy routine. The material she used was actually pretty funny!"

"Well isn't that sweet," Rita remarked, "And as for your grandfather, don't you kids worry. He's going to make a full recovery!" Upon hearing this news, the Loud siblings all cheered, happy to hear that their maternal grandfather was officially out of the woods. "Yes," Rita remarked with a nod, "Your grandfather will be out of the hospital before you know it."

"Your grandpa still got a little bit of time left in the hospital, kids," Lynn Sr. said, "So let's try to send him all the love that you can, alright?"

"Would it be a good idea to call Pop-Pop right now, daddy?" Lola asked.

"I believe so, and I'm certain your grandpa would love to hear from all of you," Lynn Sr. replied, "Why don't we try calling him?" Lynn Sr. led the way over to where the family phone sat, with Lola and a few of the other Loud girls following their father, leaving Rita in the living room with Lincoln, Lori, Leni, Luna and Luan.

"So, Luan," Rita began, "You tried to keep your siblings' spirits up?"

"Heh, well you know me, mom," Luan replied a bit bashfully, "No smile will be upside down while I'm here!"

"Well that's nice to hear," Rita replied with a nod, "I'm glad to see that you're-"

"Hey Rita!" Lynn Sr. called from over at the phone, "Your dad wants to talk to you!"

"Okay, I'll come over!" Rita called back. Turning to face her four oldest daughters and her only son, Rita said, "I'm going to go see what your grandfather wants, kids." Rita turned around and headed over to where the phone was kept. After Rita was gone, Lincoln and the three oldest loud girls turned to regard Luan.

"I have to admit, Luan," Lori began, "You actually did pretty well with keeping our younger siblings distracted from Pop-Pop having to be taken to the hospital."

"Thanks," Luan replied.

"And it wasn't just one person laughing at your comedy, Luan," Lincoln pointed out, "Unlike when you pulled some pranks in the past, where it was just you laughing, pretty much everyone was laughing." Giving the comedic Loud sibling a knowing look, Lincoln said, "And that _is_ the goal of comedy, right? Making everyone laugh rather than just make yourself laugh?"

Smiling a bit, Luan said, "Heh, yeah. I guess I occasionally forgot my own rule, huh?"

"Well you certainly didn't forget it today," Lincoln remarked, "I think that if you can keep that up, you'll be one heck of a comedian."

"Don't give it up, dude," Luna said to her sister and roommate, shooting Luan a thumbs-up.

"Group hug!" Leni declared as she gathered her siblings that were present in the living room with her into a group hug. Granted, Lori (and Luna to a lesser extent) wasn't too willing to join in on the group hug, the sentiment behind Leni spontaneously declaring the group hug was appreciated all around nonetheless. Especially by Luan, who was roughly in the middle of the group hug.

With Lincoln hugging her around her waist.

* * *

The following day, Lincoln walked by Luna and Luan's room on his way from the bathroom when he noticed Luan doing something in the bedroom. Curious, the white-haired boy peeked in and saw Luan getting a load of her comedy props ready for a trip. "…You got another party to perform at, Luan?" Lincoln asked, getting the comedic Loud sibling's attention in the process.

"Oh, hey Lincoln!" Luan greeted, "Yeah, looks like Funny Business isn't wanting for work!" Gesturing to her wagon of props, Luan said, "I got a lot planned for the party I'm going to perform at today!" Leaning to his side to get a better look at what Luan was planning on taking along with her, Lincoln saw that the wagon was rather full.

"Will one of the girls be helping you?" Lincoln asked, "I mean, that does look like a lot of stuff you're planning to bring along."

"Oh, that," Luan replied, a hint of concern in her tone, "Yeah, the girls are all busy with something else. Not to mention the fact that whenever I end up with either Lynn, Lucy, Leni or Lisa as an assistant, they usually end up messing things up. And that's saying nothing of the one time when I had Lana as an assistant." With a resigned sigh, Luan said, "I'm afraid that none of o…sorry, none of _my_ sisters, are available to help me."

"…Well what about me?" Lincoln replied.

Having heard what Lincoln had just said, Luan perked up instantly. "…Huh?" Luan said, her tone a clear mix of confusion and surprise.

"Well I may not be a sister," Lincoln began to explain, "But I _am_ a brother, and that should be just as good to act as a comedy assistant, don't you-" The white-haired boy was cut off when Luan came up, got down on one knee to be level with Lincoln, threw her arms around him, and drew him into a hug. The comedic Loud sibling even cried gently a little bit as she hugged her younger brother.

Especially since she was his older sister again.

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Author's notes:

I would like to think that after hearing Luan promise to refrain from pulling pranks too often, as well as nix the April Fool's level pranks altogether, and then use her comedy skills to try and raise everyone's spirits and not just her own, that a lot of Lincoln's faith in Luan would be restored, thus giving him some excuse in accepting Luan as a sister again. As a side note, Lola mentioning that she was homeschooled is a reference to the January 2018 episode 'No Place Like Homeschool', which said that Lola was homeschooled despite depicting Lola as a student of RWES in past episodes. Thankfully, she's only homeschooled during pageant season, so that saves a lot of confusion.

Anywho, the next chapter will see the result of one side of a rivalry winning against the other.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image

Chapter eighteen: New Management

It was a calm enough morning one day in Royal Woods, Michigan. Over at the Loud family residence, Lincoln Loud, the only male child out of eleven total children, was laying on his bed in his bedroom, which is actually a (formerly boarded-up) linin closet, looking up at the ceiling as he allowed his mind to wander. A while ago, he had been labeled and decried as bad luck, and as a result was treated by the Louds so badly that he ended up running away. About two months or so after that, Lincoln returned home when he was discovered by his ex-sister Lori, and after that he began the slow, bumpy, and somewhat awkward road of reconciling with the Louds.

The sole Loud boy has made considerable progress in that regard, and in one or two cases, those who returned to Lincoln's good graces became better people as a whole for the experience. Yes, it's starting to look like the whole bad luck incident from a while ago is making the Louds closer than they have been in the past, ironically enough.

Getting up, Lincoln left his room, figuring that he should head down to the kitchen for a snack since he was hungry. As he walked, he stopped when he saw two of the Loud girls, Luan and Luna, leave the bedroom that they shared with each other. They were about to head down the stairs to the first floor of the Loud family residence, but stopped short upon bumping into their little brother.

"Oh, what's shaking, Lincoln?" Luna asked.

"I was going to head to the kitchen to grab a snack or something," Lincoln replied.

"Cool, cool," Luna remarked in a conversational manner, "Hey, you wanna help me with setting up some gear in the garage for when Sam and my other friends come over later to rock out?"

"No, he can't do that," Luan replied to her older sister, "Because I need him to help me bring some of my Funny Business gear to and from a Birthday party that I was hired to perform at!

As the two teenage girls began to go back and forth, Lincoln was partly reminded of the reason why the bad luck incident from a while ago got so out of hand; the sole Loud boy wanted some time to himself because at that point, he was exhausted from having to go to all sorts of events that the Loud girls were having. There was even one point, prior to having to go to that grave-digging competition that Lucy had, where three of the Loud girls, those being Lana, Lisa and Luna, argued with each other because all three of them wanted Lincoln to come to a thing they were having at the time.

To decide which of those events he would decide to go to, Lincoln used a six-sided die, assigned numbers one and two to Lisa, numbers three and four to Lana, and numbers five and six to Luna, then told the girls that the one among them that he would support would depend on the result of him rolling the die once. Lincoln ended up rolling a two, which meant he ended up helping Lisa set up some stuff over at the local university for a lecture she was going to give. Given what the other two girls had in mind, Lincoln silently felt relieved that he ended up helping Lisa, due to the lack of extreme volumes and dirtiness.

…Of course, that was in the past; now it's the present, where a fair portion of the Louds were still trying to reconcile with Lincoln. To the white-haired boy, his choice in this situation was rather clear. "…Sorry, Luna," Lincoln remarked to his musically inclined ex-sister, "But I'm going to have to go with Luan on this one."

"Yes!" Luan cheered as she pumped both fists into the air. Luna, for her part, seemed a bit sad that she had lost to her comedic younger sister, but understood why and respectfully decided to step to the side.

"…I understand, bro," Luna remarked to Lincoln, a small but noticeable hint of sadness and regret in both her expression and tone, "Maybe next time, huh?"

"Maybe," Lincoln replied, his tone more or less dry, before he turned to go head down the stairs to go get himself a snack.

* * *

The following school day over at RWES, after classes had ended for the day, Lincoln was leading his younger sisters who attended the elementary school with him home, as Lori couldn't pick them up given she needed to use Vanzilla to help her varsity golf team friends with something. Lincoln understood that it was an out-of-nowhere thing that Lori could not have counted on happening, and the need was rather urgent, so Lincoln wasn't going to hold it against the oldest Loud girl.

…The same could not be said of the _youngest_ of the Loud girls who were old enough to attend school, however.

"I cannot believe that our older sister expects us to just walk home," Lisa remarked, her usual dry monotone carrying a hint of annoyance, "She does realize that it's a considerable distance to walk for children of our ages? Especially myself?"

"…I walked all the way from Royal Woods to the city that the Santiagos were considering moving to until Mrs. Santiago changed her mind," Lincoln said to the little genius, his tone acquiring a hint of bitterness, "Keep in mind that the city in question is located in a completely different state."

"…Yes, well, erm," Lisa said, starting to find that she was having trouble with coming up with a response, "Well Lincoln, you are the oldest out of all of here, and your legs are-"

"Lisa," Lincoln interrupted, his voice getting cool. The white-haired boy stopped, prompting all of the young Loud girls to stop as well and regard him. All of the younger Loud girls looked to their older brother, but Lincoln's line of sight was fixed squarely on his brainy younger ex-sister. Using a tone that would be hearing no argument from Lisa, Lincoln said, " _Not_ _now_."

Lisa, to her credit, knew that she was effectively being asked to keep quiet. While giving an understanding nod, Lisa mumbled in a humbled and mildly sad tone that was just loud enough for Lincoln to hear her, "Yes, Lincoln. My apologies." The other three girls, who unlike Lisa had the benefit of having already been forgiven by their older brother, were surprised to see that Lisa was not only pretty much told to shut up, but that she obeyed the command immediately and without complaint. Lucy, Lola and Lana could tell full well that their brainy younger sister has, in a very rare instance, been not only humbled but _intimidated_. To say that none of them envied Lisa would be a bit of an understatement.

"…Whatever," Lincoln replied to Lisa's apology as he turned around, "We ought to not waste anymore time by just standing around here." The white-haired boy proceeded to continue his walk, with the younger Loud girls all following behind him, although Lisa was a just a bit slower to respond that her older sibling units.

The atmosphere among the younger Loud girls, especially from Lisa, was considerably heavy, and it wasn't until about two minutes or so did any of the younger Loud girls dare to speak up. It was Lola. "…Umm, Lincoln?" Lola began in an unsure tone that had hints of being afraid, "I, umm, got some homework that kind of has me stumped. Could you, umm, help me with it when we get home?"

Lincoln could tell from Lola's tone that his telling Lisa to zip it had worked a little too well, given that his pageant-winning younger sister sounded scared. Lincoln stopped and turned around again, prompting the younger Loud girls to stop as well. It was there that Lincoln saw that not only did Lisa looked worried, but so did Lola, as well as Lana and Lucy. Seeing this, Lincoln sighed in a resigned tone.

"Sorry, Lola," Lincoln said in an apologetic tone.

Slumping slightly, Lola replied, "It's okay, Lincoln. I guess you're going to be busy with your own ho-"

"That's not what I meant," Lincoln interrupted gently, cutting Lola off and getting her plus the other younger Loud girls to look up at him. "I didn't mean to frighten you. Or Lana or Lucy for that matter. Heck, I even really didn't want to frighten Lisa. I was just not in the mood to hear her complaining is all." To the younger Loud girls as a whole, Lincoln said, "I'm so-"

"AHHHHH!" a random male voice cried out in a mix of alarm and fright, cutting Lincoln off and making him look around for the source of the noise. After hearing the same voice cry out once again, Lincoln could tell that the owner of the voice had to be around his age. Lincoln could also tell what direction the crying came from, so he turned to face the appropriate direction.

"…Stick close," Lincoln said to the younger Loud girls as he proceeded to head in the direction that the cries came from. Lola, Lana, Lisa and Lucy, although they were all confused, followed their older brother to where he was going nonetheless, as they themselves had heard the panicked cries and were curious as to what was going on.

* * *

Lincoln and the younger Loud girls that were old enough to go to RWES eventually made their way to a nearby park, and once there, they all saw the source of the cries; a boy who looked to be roughly Lincoln's age was being chased around by a clearly angry older boy who looked to be old enough to be a student of Royal Woods Middle School. What made this even more shocking was that Lincoln recognized both boys; it was Chandler and Francisco.

"Get back here!" Francisco snarled angrily as he tried to catch Chandler, only for the younger boy to be just a few steps ahead. Although the conceited boy had a noticeable lead, Lincoln could tell from where he and the younger Loud sisters stood that Chandler will not have that lead for long. The white-haired boy still didn't care for Chandler too much, and would normally leave him to deal with his bully. …But Chandler's bully was Francisco, the boy who tried to cheat against Lincoln in the Kendo tournament from a while ago, the boy who tried to confront him rather forcefully about it at the Royal Woods Mall claiming that someone must have switched his shinai out on him while he wasn't looking.

The boy who broke Lincoln's older sister Lynn's heart.

"Hey, it's one of the three boys who tried to pick on that boy that Lisa's friends with!" Lana said in an accusing tone as she pointed to Chandler.

"But he and his friends tried to stop a mean older boy from picking on me," Lola pointed out, "And after the mean older boy was taken to the principal's office, that boy with the reddish-brown hair even helped me up!"

"And is that really that oafish slime ball Francisco who's chasing him?" Lisa asked rhetorically in an accusing tone as she pointed to Francisco.

"What should we do?" Lucy asked, just the barest hint of concern seeping into her otherwise emotionless monotone.

After looking at what was going on, Lincoln remarked, "Looks like it's a one-on-one kind of deal right now." Turning around, Lincoln said to Lana, "Hey Lana, you can take on three fifth graders on your own and still win, right?" After his tomboyish younger sister nodded in the affirmative, Lincoln said, "Good. With that being the case, would you mind backing me up on this one?" The tomboyish Loud sister gave her older brother a mildly confused look, not at all sure what he was implying.

…

Chandler could not believe his luck; he was heading home after a day at school, and he randomly bumped into Francisco, his current rival. The older boy was clearly upset (Chandler had a pretty good idea as to why), and was chasing Chandler with the intent of giving him a good thrashing. To make matters worse for Chandler, he was alone on this one; none of his goon-friends were around, which deprived Chandler of his primary advantage in physical confrontations, which was his side outnumbering his opponents. Although in recent events, Chandler's reliance on superior numbers to see him through a fight didn't help at all, what with his first encounter with that Chris bully, not to mention that one six-year-old girl who-

"HIYAA!" a young female voice shouted in a battle cry, interrupting Chandler's thoughts as he also heard Francisco cry out in surprise. Turning around, Chandler saw that the same six-year-old girl who had beaten him and two of his goon-friends up a while ago had just jumped at Francisco, and was now in the process of beating on him. Before the conceited boy could gather his thoughts properly, he saw to his surprise that Larry (Lincoln) had shown up just as Francisco got back up. The white-haired boy successfully grabbed Francisco in a full nelson, and as the two boys struggled, the six-year-old girl proceeded to kick Francisco in the shins.

"Larry?!" Chandler said, surprised at who had come to his rescue, "What are you and that little girl doing?"

"What does it *UHNN* look like we're doing?" Lincoln replied as he grunted while struggling to keep a hold on Francisco, "My little sister Lana and I are trying *UHHN* to bail your sorry butt out of trouble here!"

"That girl is your little sister?!" Chandler nearly exclaimed, clearly surprised that the little girl who whumped him eight ways to Sunday was related to the white-haired boy. …But then again, after intimidating Biff Bizowski into submission and going toe-to-toe with that Chris jerk, Chandler thought that it sort-of made sense that the little girl was related to Larry; she must have gotten her ability to throw down with formidable opposition from her older brother. Chandler made a mental note to never cross Larry, or any of his other relatives. In fact, the conceited boy figured that it may be in his best interest to get on Larry's good side.

…

Francisco managed to get himself out of Lincoln's full nelson, but he didn't stick around for much longer after that. Considering it was three-on-one (even though he was older than all of the kids he was facing), Francisco wisely decided to get out of there, not wanting to take any risks. The older boy considered himself lucky that little girl never considered trying to score a critical hit on his hidden treasure.

After seeing Francisco run off out of sight, Lincoln turned to face Chandler, which prompted Lana to turn and look up at the boy as well. "…Care to explain what all of that was about?" Lincoln asked as he gave Chandler a look that was partly firm but overall just curious.

"Oh, Francisco's just really steamed that it was my dad, and not his, who scored a big promotion at work," Chandler explained, "It's something between my family and his."

"Uhh huh," Lincoln replied dryly as he considered what Chandler had said; the white-haired boy had some vague idea about the rivalry between Chandler and Francisco, and that said rivalry had something to do with their respective dads competing with each other for a very favorable promotion at the sewage treatment plant where they both worked. According to Chandler, his dad was the one who ended up getting that promotion, screwing Francisco and his family over in the process.

"…Congratulations on your dad getting promoted," Lincoln remarked in a neutral tone.

"Heh, thanks Larry," Chandler replied, "And thanks also for bailing me out of trouble." With a mildly curious look, Chandler said, "You know, I'm actually a little bit surprised that you even bothered with bailing me out of that jam with Francisco."

With a gentle shake of his head, Lincoln said, "At this point, I'm pretty much indifferent towards you. I had a lot of other stuff more important than dealing with you to worry about." After giving a sigh, Lincoln jerked a thumb in the direction Francisco fled in and continued, "But that guy, I just don't like him at all. I'm really steamed at him."

The curiosity in his expression growing a bit, Chandler asked, "What did he do to you to get your jammies in a bunch? Did he pick on one of your younger sisters or something?"

"Francisco cheated against me when we faced each other in a Kendo tournament over at the community center," Lincoln began to explain, "Then when he found me at the mall later, he tried to tell me that someone must have switched his gear out on him while he wasn't looking." With a hint of seriousness seeping into his tone, Lincoln added, "He also broke the heart of one of my older sisters."

"Yeesh," Chandler remarked, visibly taken aback by what Lincoln was telling him; granted, Chandler _knew_ about the Kendo tournament thing for a while now, but he didn't know that Francisco tried to shake Lincoln down about it later. And the conceited boy had _no_ idea that Francisco actually broke a girl's heart; the conceited boy had, up to this point, only seen Francisco as a rival, an obstacle to overcome so that his family would have a more favorable position. But after hearing about the older boy breaking a girl's heart…Chandler, for the first time in a long time, found himself to be honestly, sincerely _disgusted_ with what he was hearing. If Chandler himself was ever lucky enough to get a girlfriend (the conceited boy would prefer Astrid Ace), then he would treat that girl as she deserved; nothing less than royalty.

"…Chandler," Lincoln said, getting the conceited boy's attention.

"What's up?" Chandler replied.

"We ought to let some adults know what happened," Lincoln began to explain, "Because unless someone responsible helps us with defusing the situation here, chances are that Francisco will only try his hand at giving you a beating again. He may even try to extend that same courtesy to myself…" With a troubled sigh, Lincoln added, "…Or any of my sisters."

"…Follow me," Chandler replied.

* * *

A short while later, Lincoln, as well as the younger Loud girls old enough to attend RWES, followed Chandler to his place. Once there, they were led inside by Chandler, and all of the kids were greeted by an adult woman who Chandler introduced to the Loud kids as his mother. "Chandler, sweetie, who are these kids?" Chandler's mother asked, "None of them look like any of your usual friends."

"Mom, this is Larry and his younger sisters who go to Royal Woods Elementary," Chandler said as he made the introductions.

"Hang on," Chandler's mother replied, "I thought that one high school girl from a while ago said that this boy's name was Lincoln."

"I'm addressing him by a nickname," Chandler explained, "Anywho, you remember that guy that dad was competing with at work for that big promotion? Well, the guy's son tried to beat me up earlier, but Larry and his sister with the red hat saved me and even managed to scare the older boy off."

"And older kid tried to assault you?!" Chandler's mother nearly exclaimed, clearly alarmed that her son/only child was almost the victim of a physical assault.

"Yeah," Chandler replied, his expression clearly conveying worry, "Like I said, it was the son of the guy that competed with dad at work for that promotion."

"I'll take it from here, sweetie," Chandler's mother said, "In the meanwhile, you, your little friend here and his sisters try to stay out of trouble." Chandler's mother went to the home phone that was on a table nearby to make a few calls. As his mother did that, Chandler turned around to face Lincoln and his sisters.

"You guys…want some snacks?" Chandler said in a mildly unsure tone that clearly indicated that Chandler was confused about what to do next, "I think there's still a good twelve-pack of cola cans in the kitchen."

"…Sure, why not?" Lincoln replied, "And while we're doing that, I can call my family and let them know what happened." With a gentle shake of his head, Lincoln continued, "I hope that this won't interfere with my older sister's varsity golf team meeting. She's got the family's van right now since she had to help with picking everyone up."

"Your sister who had her heart broken by Francisco?" Chandler asked, a curious look on his face.

"No, that's Lynn," Lincoln clarified, "It's Lori who's got the van."

"…Lori, you say," Chandler replied, feeling as if the name of the older Loud sibling sounded familiar to him for some reason, although he couldn't figure out why.

* * *

The police came by a short while later to interview Lincoln, Lana and Chandler; all three of them said the same thing, that Francisco was trying to chase and beat Chandler. Lana even mentioned that Francisco kicked at her, causing the edge of the bottom part of his shoe to scrape against her right forearm, drawing a mild amount of blood. One of the officers that came by took a look at the cut on Lana's arm to confirm the story.

After the police were done with the Louds and Chandler, they went about tracking down Francisco. The older boy claimed that he was attacked by the other kids, but the police were not all that inclined to believe him, especially considering the fact that one of the kids he claimed had attacked him was a _six_ - _year_ - _old girl_ who he had hurt. Evidence was gathered, including using a cotton swab on Francisco's shoes along the bottom, and after the evidence confirmed the presence of blood (barely just there, mind you), the police carried out the next logical step; they proceeded to arrest Francisco.

When Lincoln and the younger Loud girls were finally able to get home, they proceeded to explain what had happened to the others; with the exception of Lynn Sr., who was at work at the time, everyone was home, even Lori who had just arrived home prior to the arrival of the elementary school-age Loud kids. To say that everyone was surprised by what had happened would be an understatement.

"Francisco was arrested?!" Lynn exclaimed, clearly shocked to hear this bit of info.

Nodding once in the affirmative, Lincoln said, "Yeah, although I'm not sure how much of a sentence he'll get."

"Well given that one of Francisco's crimes was kicking Lana with the edge of his shoe hard enough to draw blood, I theorize that the oafish slime ball will be in quite a bit of trouble," Lisa stated. Lana even showed her right forearm, which now had a fairly large bandage on it. Thankfully Lana's injury wasn't severe enough to warrant a trip to Royal Woods General.

"…That bastard is lucky the police are between him and me," Lynn swore in a clearly vengeful tone, "Because otherwise, I'd have-"

"You literally need to relax, Lynn," Lori said, "The police are taking care of things here. There is no need to worry."

"…I still don't like the fact that he hurt one of our siblings," Lynn spat dryly, her anger clearly fuming.

"And that is what makes you a good sister," Lincoln remarked to Lynn, getting her attention and the attention of everyone else. "You're looking out for the well-being of not just Lana, but all of us," Lincoln began to clarify to the sporty Loud sibling, then added while giving Lynn a pat on her right shoulder, "Thanks for that, Lynn."

Lynn smiled, touched that her younger brother, who she had once decried as bad luck compelling him to run away as a result, was actually thanking her, saying that she was a good older sibling.

"…No problem, Lincoln," Lynn replied.

* * *

Sometime the following afternoon, Lincoln could be seen walking to some random destination. The white-haired boy was accompanied by Ronnie Anne, whose expression was a healthy and even mix of suspicious and confused. "…Tell me again why the two of us are heading over to Chandler's place, Lame-o?" the Hispanic girl said to her white-haired companion.

"He invited me to a party…" Lincoln said as he began to explain.

(FLASHBACK)

Earlier that day, Lincoln was leaving RWES since classes were done for the day. As he was trying to leave, Lincoln heard a voice call out, "Hey, Larry!" Turning around, Lincoln saw Chandler come dashing up, accompanied by his two goon-friends. "I'm having a party at my place later tonight," Chandler said, "To celebrate my dad scoring that sick promotion at work. You wanna come?"

"You're actually inviting me to a party?" Lincoln replied, more curious and surprised than anything else.

"Well Chandler did say that you saved him from a serious beating, and that you also helped to get that Francisco jerk arrested," the first goon-friend remarked. Lincoln could tell that there was a small but noticeable hint of fear in the first goon-friend's tone, as if he were addressing someone that he was frightened of.

"You can even bring a plus one if you want," Chandler remarked, "With what I got planned, I'm pretty sure any of the four guys you hang out with would love coming by."

"A lot of the fifth-graders here are coming by," the second goon-friend stated.

Lincoln looked at Chandler and his goon-friends for a few seconds as he considered the proposition. After a while, Lincoln said, "I'll have to look into who's available to some with me, but sure. Just name a time and I'll try to swing by."

"Sweet," Chandler replied as he offered Lincoln a high-five, "Hope to see you there, Larry."

As he regarded the conceited boy, Lincoln had a look of amusement on his face as he accepted the high-five. "…Hope I'll be able to make it myself, Charlie."

Chandler, realizing what Lincoln was getting at, could not help but let out a laugh. "Hoo boy, that was a good one," Chandler remarked. Turning around, Chandler left with his goon friends as he said, "Catch you later!"

(FLASHBACK OVER)

"…I'm still a little wary of Chandler, so that's why I'm bringing you as my plus one," Lincoln said to Ronnie Anne, "He's probably expecting either Clyde, Rusty, Liam or Zach. I'd like to see what kind of a loop he'll be thrown for when he sees that I brought you."

"Yeah, I can see that," Ronnie Anne replied, "No way is Chandler expecting to see me at his party as your plus-one, Lame-o." The two fifth graders continued their walk to the party, although just a minute before they reached their destination, Ronnie Anne turned to face Lincoln so she could ask him something. "Did you _really_ refer to Chandler as Charlie?" the Hispanic girl asked her white-haired companion.

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Author's notes:

Well, there's chapter eighteen for you. Anywho, the next chapter will see me adapt the ninth one-shot from that collection I keep bringing up to this story's setting, although I'll have to add and take out a few parts when making the adaption, considering that in the original, Lincoln's presence is very minimal. The parts that adapt the ninth one-shot will also go over something that I see pop up quite a bit in stories that partly go over the episode 'Sleuth or Consequences'. As for the other part of the next chapter, it will be a new plot that revolves around, out of all people, Lisa.

As a side note, I'm working on two other Loud House stories right now.


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image

Chapter nineteen: Respectful Learning

Lincoln Loud was walking to the Burpin' Burger in his hometown of Royal Woods, Michigan, one day after having come from competing in another Kendo tournament over at the local community center. Although the white-haired boy didn't win, he still placed third, which was enough to net him another trophy. Walking with Lincoln was Aggro Ace, who was Lincoln's kendo instructor, and Leni Loud, who is one of Lincoln's older sisters.

The group had entered the Burpin' Burger and waked over to the counter to order. "Wow, Linky," Leni said to her little brother in an amazed tone, "I can't believe you got another trophy for placing well in the sword fight tournaments at the community center!"

"It's a third-place trophy, though," Lincoln remarked.

"It's still rather impressive that you placed high enough to win an award for your efforts," Aggro pointed out to his student, "Especially considering the fact that you clearly looked tired when going into the tournament in the first place." With something of a concerned look, Aggro asked, "Did you get enough sleep last night?"

"Me and Linky's sister Luna kept the entire family up late into the night with her music playing," Leni explained, "I must have lost, like, half a night's worth of beauty sleep last night because of Luna's music."

"Really," Aggro said in a curious tone, "Well that would certainly explain the lack of energy on Lincoln-kun's part." With a look of consideration on his face, Aggro added, "In fact, I dare say that he might have gotten first place if it hadn't been for your sister's music keeping him up."

"Leni! Lincoln!" a familiar voice called out, prompting Lincoln, Leni and Aggro to turn and see Lori, the older sister of Lincoln and Leni, sitting there with a few friends of hers from the varsity golf team; they were able to tell that they were all friends of Lori's from the varsity golf team because they were all wearing the team shirts. Aggro's older twin sister Allison also sat among the group, and to Aggro's mild surprise, Allison was also wearing one of the shirts.

"Lori!" Leni greeted as she, Lincoln and Aggro walked over, "How did your golf game go today?"

"We won, naturally," Lori replied in a self-amused tone, "How about you? How have things been going?"

"Linky got third place at the sword fight tournament at the community center today," Leni explained, "Aggro said that he might have gotten first if Luna hadn't kept us up all night with her music last night."

"Well in her defense, Luna has a gig tonight, and she needs as much practice as she can get," Lori pointed out, "Still, Lincoln getting third while being incredibly tired is impressive in and of itself."

"That's what I've been saying," Aggro remarked. Turing his head to face his older sister, Aggro remarked, "I see that you finally took me and Amy's advice and joined a club at school."

"One of the reasons that I've been able to come up with to explain why I'm apparently really good at this sport is because Odin had chosen me as his champion in this game," Allison remarked to her twin, "That being said, I figured that I should at least give the game a more honest go."

"Well that's the most logical explanation I've heard out of you for anything all week," Aggro remarked dryly.

After some of the others in the group laughed a bit, Lori said, "In all seriousness, though. I was telling the girls here a story, and some of them pointed out a few things that make me think that I didn't get all the facts." Looking to Lincoln specifically, Lori said in a concerned yet firm tone, "Lincoln, I need to ask you a question, maybe more than one. And I want you to be absolutely honest with me. Understood?"

The white-haired boy was curious about Lori's sudden request. What exactly did the oldest Loud sibling want to ask him about, especially so out of the blue like this? Lori wasn't the only one with a question or two. "…What's going on?" Lincoln asked, a hint of suspicion in his tone.

"I think that you were literally punished for more than you deserved," Lori replied, her tone carrying a hint of concern, "I want you to be absolutely honest with me with the questions because I want to confirm some suspicions that I have."

"…" Giving his older ex-sister a wry look, Lincoln remarked, "…Alright, shoot."

Lori first took a breath to steady herself, but then she asked, "Lincoln, was it really you who clogged the toilet with that Princess Pony book?"

"…I beg your pardon?" Lincoln replied, caught off guard by the question.

"What are you talking about, Lori?" Leni asked.

"I told the girls here about that incident," Lori explained as she gestured to her friends, "And some of them pointed out a few things that have led me to believe that Lincoln may not have really been the one responsible for clogging the toilet with the Princess Pony book."

"Wait a minute, I'm confused," Aggro said, "What's this about clogging toilets?"

"I'll explain later, Aggro-sensei," Lincoln said when he turned to face his Kendo instructor. Turning back to face Lori, Lincoln gave her a dry, mildly unamused look. "…Are you serious about this, Lori?" Lincoln said, his tone cool as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Please, Lincoln," Lori continued, concern seeping into her tone. Lincoln took pause when he saw that his older ex-sister looked genuinely upset about something. Not upset as in angry, upset as in guilty and a little sad. "I want you to tell me the truth," Lori said in that upset tone, "Was it really you who clogged the toilet with the Princess Pony book, yes or no?"

Lincoln saw that the looks in the faces of Lori and her friends. Lincoln also saw, upon turning to face them, that Leni and Aggro were also expecting to hear the white-haired boy give an answer. Still, Lincoln did not count on the subject of the Princess Pony book clogging the toilet to ever come back up again.

A while ago, the toilet was clogged by the book in question, and after a lengthy investigation, Lincoln discovered that the person behind the clogging was his younger sister Lucy. However, knowing full well that the other girls would tear into their gothic sister mercilessly because she likes the Princess Pony series, Lincoln took the fall for everything, resulting in the other girls ragging on him instead. At least Lucy was kind enough to show her appreciation for the big hit that Lincoln took in her place.

…It was bad enough that Lincoln's family felt guilty for the stunt that resulted in Lincoln running away from home; even the family members Lincoln has already forgiven still felt terrible about what they had done. But if Lincoln told Lori the truth, he had no doubt that the guilt that the family felt would multiply exponentially. Still, Lori was expecting him to tell her the truth about that day, and she didn't technically ask for a name. Not, of course, that he would tell Lori; despite being betrayed by Lucy, Lincoln didn't want to do the same to her. It helped that Lincoln had accepted Lucy as his sister again after having come back home.

In response to Lori's question, Lincoln gently shook his head. "…No, Lori," Lincoln said in a dry monotone that sounded a bit resigned, "It wasn't really me." Almost instantly after the white-haired boy's confession, Leni gasped in shock, then bent down to throw her arms around Lincoln in order to drag him into a hug.

"Linky, I am, like, so sorry about the rough time I gave you because of that!" the fashionable Loud sibling cried as she squeezed her younger brother in a sibling hug.

"Leni, please let go of him," Lori half-ordered half-asked, "I'm not done with Lincoln yet." Obeying Lori right away, Leni broke out of the hug and stood back up. Continuing the impromptu interview, Lori asked, "Lincoln, do you know who was responsible for clogging the toilet with the Princess Pony book, yes or no?"

"Yes," Lincoln replied in the same tone, his expression looking mildly unamused.

"Who was it?" Lori asked.

Giving his older ex-sister a dry but serious look, Lincoln replied, "I'm not telling you."

"W-what?" Lori said, taken back by Lincoln's response. Not only was Lori taken back by Lincoln's response, but the tone that Lincoln had used had just as much to do with it, if not more so. "Lincoln," Lori began in a concerned, mildly upset tone, "Is…is there a reason why you don't want to tell me who it was?"

"…Remember what you and the other girls did when I claimed to have clogged the toilet with that book?" Lincoln asked, his temper just starting to rise.

"I do," Lori replied in a guilty tone, "And that's literally why I why I'm asking. Lincoln, you didn't deserve how the others and I treated you over that."

"Okay, Lori," Lincoln said in the same tone that he's been using, "Now answer me _this_. Who _does_ deserve to be treated the way you girls treated me when I claimed to have been the owner of that Princess Pony book?"

"W-what do you mean?" Lori asked.

"Let's say I do tell you who it was," Lincoln explained, "What will happen next? You tell the other girls what you learned here. How do I know you girls won't do to the actual culprit what you all did to me?"

"Lincoln, I'm sorry," Lori said in a defeated tone, "Really. And if it helps, I promise that I won't tease who it really was that clogged the toilet with the Princess Pony book."

"I, like, won't tease the real person either, Linky," Leni promised.

"That's all well and good, but how do I know that any of the others won't give in to the temptation of teasing who it really was that clogged the toilet that one time?" Lincoln asked. Giving both of the older Loud girls a serious look, Lincoln said, "I'm only going to say this to you once. Do _not_ push this matter further." The seriousness in Lincoln's expression relented, leaving the white-haired boy with a resigned expression that clearly indicated that he was emotionally drained. "…Please," Lincoln added, looking tired.

Lori looked down to the floor, a quiet, upset look on her face. It was blatantly clear to the oldest Loud sibling that her little brother felt very strongly about this. Lori felt strongly about this whole mess as well; it was bad enough that she and the rest of the family had been so literally cruel to Lincoln that it drove him to the point of running away, but now she found out that she and the other Loud girls had bullied Lincoln over something that wasn't really his fault? Lori had multiple reasons for wanting to know the identity of the actual culprit. Anger that the actual culprit behind clogging the toilet with the Princess Pony book had gotten away with what they had done for as long as they have, her own personal curiosity, but the biggest, most important of all was a strong desire to get justice for Lincoln.

"… _But if Lincoln literally feels this strongly about it_ , _then I_ ' _ll respect his wishes on the matter_ ," Lori thought, " _It helps that he has a point how some of our sisters will undoubtedly be unable to resist teasing whoever it really was that clogged the toilet with the Princess Pony book_. _I can literally see Lucy in particular tearing into whoever it is_ , _given that she hates pink which is in abundance in Princess Pony_." Sighing, Lori said, "Okay, Lincoln. If you're really sure about this, then I won't try to force you to answer." Looking to Leni, Lori added in a frim tone, "And you better not try to force Lincoln to answer either, Leni."

"Oh, I'd never do that," Leni replied, "Linky really wants to keep this a secret, so of course I would never try to make him tell me."

Sighing, Lincoln said, "Thanks, you two." Turning to face Aggro, Lincoln said, "Aggro-sensei, is it okay if we leave now?"

Given what he had just bore witness to, Aggro understood full well the severity of this situation. "I take it you want to go home, Lincoln-kun?" Aggro replied in an understanding tone.

"…Actually, I was kind of wondering if I could just talk to you alone for a bit," Lincoln said in a mildly troubled tone to the male Ace teen, "I mean, you…you are one of the two people I know of that's the closest thing I have to having an older brother, and right now I feel like I need an older brother to talk to right now."

"Lincoln-kun," Aggro replied, sounding genuinely touched, "I'm flattered that you think of me in such a manner. And I'd be lying if I didn't admit to wishing that any of my actual brothers wanted to walk the path of the sword with me."

"The only one of me and Aggro's siblings who has ever expressed an interest in learning Kendo is Astrid," Allison said to her friends, "But the frequency of Astrid getting sick makes it rather hard for her to stick with it."

To Lori and Leni, Aggro said, "Lori, Leni, would it be okay if I took your brother off your hands for a bit?"

"Where do you plan to go?" Lori asked.

"My family's place," Aggro explained, "I figured that we can just watch some anime together or something along those lines."

"Oh, since you'll be heading home, make sure you look after Anna," Allison said to her brother.

"Oh yeah, she had her tonsils taken out," Aggro remarked. Turning to face his student, Aggro asked, "Are you okay with watching this one anime where a dragon takes human form to serve an actual human as a maid? It's a pretty funny series, although it's not all that long."

Lincoln smiled; it was a small smile that showed that Lincoln was tired and a little sad, but overall very appreciative that his sensei was taking such consideration for him. "…Sounds great, Aggro-sensei," Lincoln replied. The two guys then left the Burpin' Burger, leaving Lori, Allison, their varsity golf team friends, and Leni alone.

"…Leni," Lori began after the guys had left, getting Leni to turn to face her.

"What is it, Lori?" Leni asked.

"…You and I literally have some work to do," Lori replied.

* * *

Later over at the Ace family residence, Lincoln and Aggro were sitting at the dining room table, watching some anime from Aggro's laptop. Kyubi, Aggro's pet fox, was even sitting on Lincoln's lap, watching anime with her owner and her owner's student. After an episode ended, Aggro said in a mildly serious tone as he went about getting the next episode started, "I have to admit, Lincoln-kun. I never would have expected such behavior out of your siblings."

"…Yeah," Lincoln replied in a resigned, mildly sad tone, "Of course, they haven't given me any crud over me supposedly liking Princess Pony for a while, although I'm guessing that's partly due to me having run away and being gone for roughly two months."

"Well given that Lori and Leni now know you're not only innocent but that you don't really like that series, I have no doubt that your sisters will stop teasing you," the male Ace twin replied. With a mildly puzzled look, Aggro added, "You know, I'm surprised that none of your younger sisters like Princess Pony, especially considering that it's aimed specifically at girls in their age group. I would have guessed that your little sister who dresses as a princess all the time would have been a strong fan."

"Yeah," Lincoln agreed, "Anyone who's familiar enough with that series to know what it's aimed at would immediately peg Lola as a fan."

"And yet you took the burden of the blame for that incident," Aggro said, "Knowing what would happen, so that your sister who was really responsible wouldn't be teased by the other girls." Giving his student a knowing smile, Aggro said, "You're clearly a shining example of what it means to be a big brother, Lincoln-kun."

"Thanks, Aggro-sensei," Lincoln replied, "I could also say the same about Hey, wait a minute!" Giving the male Ace twin a questioning look, Lincoln said, "Why did you say big brother just now? I never specified if it was a younger sister or an older sister that I covered for."

Getting up, Aggro walked into the living room, pulled open a small drawer in a waist-high table that was up against a wall under a mirror, removed something, closed the drawer back up, then returned to the dining room. Aggro then showed Lincoln what he went to collect; a Princess Pony keychain.

"…The last time that a group of your sisters visited here," Aggro began, "This fell out of the backpack your little sister Lucy had. Since your older sister who's got her eye on that Swedish boy at her middle school had just been ragging on the Princess Pony series before hand, I figured that it was best I didn't reveal what I had discovered." Handing the keychain over to Lincoln, Aggro said, "Don't worry, Lincoln-kun. None of your sisters even knew the keychain fell out of the bag. Only Kyubi and I know the truth."

Lincoln received the keychain from his sensei, and as he held it, the young adult vixen sitting in his lap tried sniffing at the keychain, clearly curious about it. Looking to his sensei, Lincoln asked, "You…you won't ever tell any of my other sisters about this, will you?"

"No need to fear, Lincoln-kun," Aggro replied, "I'm never one to tell anyone any secrets that I've been trusted with." Seeing that his pet fox was trying to paw at Lincoln's hand that held the keychain, Aggro added with a hint of amusement in his tone, "And unless one of your sisters can speak fox, I highly doubt that Kyubi will ever them anything."

The white-haired boy laughed a bit in a good-humored tone, feeling relaxed about the whole situation, as well as feeling that he can count on the male Ace twin to keep his secret. "Anywho," Aggro began, "We ought to put that behind us. Because if I recall correctly, we still have some anime to watch."

"Heh, yeah," Lincoln remarked in a tone of agreement, "This is a pretty good series. I wish that there were more episodes of it."

"Me too, Lincoln-kun," Aggro said as he returned to his seat, "Me too."

* * *

After Allison returned to the Ace family residence, Aggro decided that it was about time to escort Lincoln home. Besides, they watched a good couple of episodes of the anime that they were watching, so the male Ace twin figured that Lincoln's mother would like for her son to come back home. After walking Lincoln to the Loud family residence, Aggro dropped him off and took his leave. After his sensei was out of sight, Lincoln turned around and walked up the front steps to the door.

When Lincoln entered the house, he was greeted by the sight of all of the Loud girls, who seemed to have been waiting for the sole boy among their number to return. As soon as Lincoln, who wore a cautious look of mild confusion on his face due to seeing the girls assembled in such a manner, had closed the front door behind him, the Loud girls all said in unison, "We're sorry, Lincoln." The only differences between dialogue from girl to girl was Luna replacing Lincoln's name with 'bro', Leni doing the same thing as Luna but saying 'Linky' instead, and Lily saying random baby babble, although the tone in the baby Loud sibling's babbling clearly sounded very apologetic to the sole Loud boy.

"…What's this about?" Lincoln asked in a suspicious tone, his gaze narrowing to help convey that suspicion.

"Look, Lincoln," Lori began, "This is literally the story…"

(FLASHBACK)

All of the Loud girls were in Lori and Leni's room, having a sibling meeting. "Now that we're all here," Lori said to all of her younger sisters, "We can now address the subject of this sibling meeting. Girls, the lot of us have all dealt Lincoln a great wrong."

"Yeah, don't remind me," Lynn replied in a regretful sounding tone, "I still feel bad about how our brother ran away just because I couldn't suck it up and admit that I can't always win."

"Lincoln having ran away is not what I was talking about," Lori said to her sporty younger sister, "Although you're right about how all of us literally made Lincoln's life a living hell over all of that bad luck nonsense." Taking a steadying breath, Lori said to the other girls, "Earlier today, Leni and I discovered that Lincoln wasn't really responsible for the incident where the toilet was clogged by that Princess Pony book."

All of the other girls gasped in shocked tones, even Leni. Having heard her fashionable younger sister gasp, Lori turned to face her, shooting her a questioning look. "Why are you gasping, Leni?" Lori asked, "You were there when we found out that Lincoln was innocent."

"Oh great," Luna said in a clearly pissed tone that carried more than a hint of sounding guilty, "Not only did we all drive Lincoln to the point where he ran away, but now we're finding out that he's innocent of the incident where the toilet was clogged by that girly little book that we teased him over for a few weeks afterwards?!" Getting up from where she sat on the end of Leni's bed, Luna nearly exclaimed in her practiced British accent, "The bloody hell is wrong with all of us?!"

"How did you find out about this, exactly?" Lynn said as she regarded her two oldest sisters.

"Earlier, while my friends on the varsity golf team and I were having lunch at the local Burpin' Burger after winning another game against a rival team," Lori began to explain, "My friend Allison, who I just recently got to join the team, brought up the fact that her six-year-old sister Anna likes Princess Pony."

"Eww," Lola remarked in a tone of disgust, "Anna actually likes that garbage?!"

"Yes, and given that the series is aimed at girls in her and your age group, it's perfectly reasonable," Lori replied, "But anywho, after Allison mentioned that Anna likes Princess Pony, I told them about the time where Lincoln said that it was him who clogged the toilet with that book. Allison and some of the other girls then proceeded to poke some holes in the story, making me doubt that Lincoln was really responsible. And as it just so happened, Lincoln entered the Burpin' Burger at that moment with Leni and Aggro. We called them over, and after I questioned Lincoln about it, he admitted that it wasn't really him who clogged the toilet with the Princess Pony book."

"Did he say who it was?" Luan asked.

"No," Lori answered, "But Lincoln did admit to knowing who really was responsible for the whole incident. He just refused to tell me and Leni who it was."

"So, what do we do?" Lana asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Lori remarked. Standing up from where she sat on her bed, Lori said, "We're going to respect Lincoln's decision on this matter."

"…Huh?!" all of the other Loud girls said in unison.

"Girls, remember how we all ragged on Lincoln when we all thought that he was the one who owned that book?" Lori began, "Lincoln literally _knew_ that we would treat him like that if he took the blame, and yet he took the blame anyway because he was afraid that we would all do the same to who was really responsible if we learned the truth." Giving some of the other Loud girls some suspicious looks, Lori added, "And given the track records that some of us have, I can't blame Lincoln for not trusting us to refrain from teasing the actual culprit."

"…Yeah, you got us there, Lori," Lynn admitted, "Heck, I'd be lying if I said that I wouldn't tease who really owned that book." Jerking a thumb at Lucy, Lynn added, "And no doubt miss gloom and doom here would also rag on whoever really owned that book, given that it overuses the color pink."

"…So, this is it?" Luan asked, clearly looking mildly upset, "We're just going to let this go? We're not going to try to find out who really clogged the toilet with that book?"

"No, we aren't," Lori stated, "And I better not hear about any of you girls try to push this matter any further. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," Lisa said, "Although I'm sure that I speak for the rest of us here when I say that we would still like to try and make it up to our only brother for the atrocious way we treated him back when we suspected him of being the owner of that nauseatingly childish book." The other Loud girls all nodded in agreement with what their brainy sister said.

"…That is where the next topic of this sibling meeting comes up, now that you mention it," Lori replied as she then began to go over a plan with her sisters.

(FLASHBACK OVER)

"…After we discussed what we'd do to make it up to you for how we treated you over that whole incident where the toilet was clogged by that Princess Pony book," Lori said to Lincoln as she finished up her tale, "Leni and I went to the store, picked up a few things we'd need for the party we're going to throw to make it up to you, came back here, and got everything ready." Sighing in a resigned tone, Lori said, "Lincoln, seriously. We're really, _really_ sorry about all of that teasing from a while ago."

Lincoln, as all of the Loud girls were looking at him, did not know what to say at first. As he had expected, Lori, and Leni to a lesser extent, ended up telling the other girls about him confessing that he wasn't really the one who clogged the toilet with the Princess Pony book, and that he knew who really did it but he refused to say who it was. The white-haired boy supposed that he couldn't really blame his ditzy older sister and his older ex-sister for doing that.

…But the girls all agreed that they would respect his feelings on this matter and not try to drill him for answers. They also went through the trouble of getting what they'd need to throw him a party to make it up to him for how they teased him back then. Given the respective histories the girls all had for meddling in his life, Lincoln was genuinely surprised to see that the girls were not going to try to get the truth out of him. …And a bit touched as well.

Smiling, Lincoln said, "Thanks for respecting my feelings about this, girls. Really." The girls in unison all said things to the effect of 'don't sweat it' to the sole Loud boy. After the girls were all done, Lincoln clapped his hands together. "Now then, you said that you got stuff that's needed for a party," Lincoln began, "What exactly did you get?"

"A few pizzas," Lori said as she began to list things off, "Some two liters of soda, various snacks, a tub or two of ice cream, and we even rented a couple of movies."

"Well alright," Lincoln replied, "Why don't we get the party started then?" The girls all cheered in agreement with their only brother as the Loud kids as a whole went about starting the party.

* * *

Movies were watched, pizza, snacks and ice cream had been eaten, soda was guzzled, and all of that resulted in the Loud kids having an overall good time. After most of the girls had gone to bed, Lori went about tidying up a bit, mostly just collecting forgotten bowls that once held ice cream, returning cushions to where they came from, and various other things related to what was essentially a siblings-only slumber party. Lori didn't mind doing this straightening up; in fact, she found it to be rather therapeutic. After returning to the living room in order to check that she got everything straightened out, Lori saw that Lincoln was still up; he was sitting in the exact middle of the sofa, playing some video game on the console he was using.

"…Can't get to sleep?" Lori said to Lincoln in a gentle tone, more saying than asking. Having heard Lori speak up, Lincoln paused his game and turned to face her.

"I guess I'm still a little energetic after the party we just had," Lincoln replied, "It was pretty fun, Lori."

"Glad that you enjoyed it," Lori remarked as she walked over. Sitting down on the sofa next to Lincoln, Lori looked to he TV to see what game he was playing. "…That's that one racing game you have," Lori observed, "Didn't you try to use this game to teach Leni to drive?"

"Yeah, this is that same game," Lincoln admitted.

"…Does it have a multiplayer option?" Lori asked. After the oldest Loud sibling had asked that question, Lincoln looked up at her. As he regarded Lori, Lincoln recalled that when she was questioning him back at the Burpin' Burger, Lori clearly looked and sounded concerned, not to mention a little upset. The white-haired boy could tell back then that Lori felt guilty about her role in teasing him back when he claimed to have been the owner of the Princess Pony book that had clogged the toilet.

Guilty just like what she was feeling over her role in driving him to the point that he ran away, not to be seen for roughly two months, where by chance Lori came to the city that he had run away to, and after he passed out on the sidewalk outside of where Ronnie Anne's relatives lived, that Carlota girl who is Ronnie Anne's older cousin ran to where her family lived, got help in the form of Bobby, and brought him inside to take care of him.

Lincoln also recalled back then how Lori held him in her arms as she cried over him.

"…Just to give you fair warning," Lincoln began in an amused tone as he got up to go about setting up a controller for Lori, "I'm pretty good at this game." Handing the extra controller over, Lincoln said, "I won't be going down easily." Giving Lori a wry look, Lincoln added with a hint of good-natured competitiveness in his, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Lori could not help but smile, chuckling in a kind, appreciative manner as she walked to the sofa and sat down next to Lincoln. "I'm pretty sure that since I can drive in real life, driving in a video game should literally be a cake walk for me," Lori replied, a hint of amused confidence in her tone.

"Hoo boy," Lincoln remarked, "Am I going to have to set you straight on that one, Lori!"

…

The following morning, Rita left the bedroom that she and Lynn Sr. shared. The Loud family matriarch was making a beeline for the kitchen, so she could get the coffee pot going on brewing a fresh pot of that revitalizing black elixir. Rita was about to turn to enter the dining room so she could head to the kitchen, but she saw that the TV was on, and that it was playing one of Lincoln's video games, which was paused. Curious, Rita walked into the living room to see what was going on, but when she walked over to the TV, she saw something on the sofa that made her take pause.

Lincoln and Lori, both sitting up, were fast asleep, with Lincoln leaning slightly against Lori. There were game controllers in both of their hands. Rita could tell that her oldest daughter and her only son must have fallen asleep playing video games. The Loud matriarch hoped that Lincoln and Lori would stay like this long enough for her to find a camera so that she could take a picture of this scene, as it was perfect family photo album material.

Lincoln having fallen asleep like that with his older sister.

* * *

Sometime the following week, Lincoln was hanging out with Clyde, Rusty, Liam and Zach as RWES during recess. "Rusty, Liam, Zach, I honestly don't see what the big deal is," Lincoln remarked in a mildly confused tone, "I mean, it's a test in our history class. You three are acting like this Friday is going to be the end of the world or something. It shouldn't be all that difficult to pass that test."

"Lincoln's got a point, you guys," Clyde remarked, "It shouldn't be too bad."

"Yeah, that's easy for you two to say, given that both of you have been breezing through history class so far," Liam said, "But what about the rest of us? History class has me more scared than a chicken in a fox den!"

"I did a mock run on a history assignment to try and study," Rusty said, his tone sounding roughly as worried and freaked out as Liam's, "And I barely got thirty percent on it. I then had my little brother Rocky do the same exact assignment, and he got over eighty percent on it. I'm a fifth-grader who failed at an assignment that was at a fifth-grade level, and yet my little brother who's in the third grade passed it no problem."

"What about you, Zach?" Clyde asked, "Don't you pass history?"

"Yeah, but barely," Zach explained; although he didn't sound as worried as Liam or Rusty, the bespectacled boy was still worried nonetheless. "My mom is really on my case about getting the Cs that I keep getting up," Zach went on, "My dad says that so long as the grade I get is a passing one then he doesn't care, but then my mom gets on his case for trying to, as she puts it, 'encourage me to slack off'. They're sort of like that alien warrior guy and his human wife from that one anime."

"Well if you guys want," Lincoln began, "We can-"

"Hey, Lame-o!" Ronnie Anne's familiar voice called out, cutting Lincoln off and prompting him and his friends to turn and see Ronnie Anne herself come walking up to them. The Hispanic girl was accompanied by her friend Astrid Ace. While pointing to the sole Loud boy, Ronnie Anne said, "Astrid and I need you to do us a solid."

"What's up?" Lincoln asked.

"It's about that history test that's coming up this Friday," Ronnie Anne explained, "Astrid and I are in something of a bind when it comes to that class, so we were hoping you can help get us ready for the test."

"Wait a minute," Rusty interrupted, "Why does Astrid need help? She's just as good at history as Lincoln and Clyde."

"Well all of the time I missed due to how frequently I get sick means that I have a lot of work to catch up on," replied the Swedish/Japanese girl, "I'm not quite up to speed on our history class's current subject matter."

"Well don't worry, Astrid," Clyde remarked, "Lincoln and I were already discussing helping Rusty, Liam and Zach with studying for the history test this Friday. I'm pretty sure working you and Ronnie Anne into the group shouldn't be a problem."

"Err, umm, yes," Astrid replied in a barely understandable mumble, a faint blushing appearing across her face as the African American boy invited her and Ronnie Anne to the study group, "That sounds nice. Umm, err, thank you."

"Okay then," Lincoln remarked as he began to count off of the tips of his fingers, "Since Ronnie Anne and Astrid will be joining us, that means we'll be at a total of seven in our study group."

"We're…going to have to find a good place with enough space to study," Zach pointed out to everyone else, "I'd suggest the library, but given the size of our group, we're bound to make a bit of noise, so we might be asked to leave."

"We're going to have to do study sessions at one of our places, then," Rusty remarked, "Do any of us have any places where we respectively live that would be suitable to study in?"

"I'd recommend my place since the living room is pretty spacious, but chances are that my older brother Bobby will stumble in randomly while making out with his girlfriend," Ronnie Anne remarked in an unamused dry tone.

"My place should be pretty good," Lincoln said, "I mean, there's very little chance that my older sister Lori will stumble in randomly while making out with her boyfriend, so I don't think that we'd have to worry about any distractions." Ronnie Anne chuckled in an amused tone due to what the white-haired boy had just said.

"Although if it was just Lori, I bet she'd make one heck of a tutor," Clyde remarked, sounding as he always does when he talks about the oldest Loud sibling.

"Is she a qualified tutor?" Astrid asked, a bare hint in her tone suggesting that she did not like the tone Clyde had used when he talked about Lori. However, that bit of the white-haired Ace girl's tone went by unnoticed by everyone else. "Because if not, then with all due respect, she'd be doing us more harm than good," Astrid continued.

"She's right," Lincoln remarked to the group as a whole while pointing to Astrid, "Although she should logically be better than us at history since she's in high school, my sister Lori is not really the kind of person to turn to when you need a tutor." Suddenly, Lincoln's eyes widened, as if the white-haired boy was just hit by inspiration.

"But I have a sister who would be the perfect tutor," Lincoln remarked, just before he began to explain to his friends what he had in mind.

* * *

"You need me to do what now?" Lisa asked that day after school when she and the rest of her siblings were home. She was talking to Lincoln, who had come under the pretense of wanting to make a request of her.

"Clyde and I are pretty solid in history, but the same can't be said of Liam, Zach, Ronnie Anne, Astrid or _especially_ Rusty," Lincoln explained, "Clyde and I agreed that we'd help, but the group might be a bit big for us to manage. That is why I was wondering if you'd be willing to help the group as a whole with tutoring. We can set the garage up like a mini classroom since we still have all of those extra school desks that you bought when the school had to liquidate some assets in order to cover expenses that came about as a result of when Luan wanted to get revenge on a girl that was picking on Lucy at school a while ago."

"Mmm, yes, I still have all nine of those desks," Lisa remarked, "I easily had the budget for eleven desks at the time, but I only got nine because Lily is too young, and I myself wouldn't need a student desk as I would clearly be the teacher." With a mildly puzzled look on her face, Lisa added, "What I still would like to know is how Luan got ahold of six dozen cans of silly string, that mask of a former United States president, and that fifty-pound box of potatoes."

"I think that it'd be best to just give up trying to figure out Luan," Lincoln advised his brainy younger ex-sister, "But we're getting off subject here. Would you be willing to help us out on this one, Lisa?"

"It shouldn't be a problem," Lisa replied, "I'll just need you to help me set the garage up as a classroom like we had it that one time. The big desk and the rolling chalkboard should also still be in the garage if I recall correctly."

"I'm ready when you are," Lincoln said.

Lisa looked up to her brother to regard him, and saw the ready-to-go look on his face. It always brought some warmth to the brainy four-year-old's heart to see someone eager to delve into the realm of education. Lisa smiled at her older brother; it was a small smile, and Lisa still retained most of her dry expression. But she smiled nonetheless.

"Then let's get started," Lisa replied.

* * *

The following day after classes at RWES let out, Lincoln showed up in the Loud family's garage with Clyde, Rusty, Liam, Zach, Ronnie Anne and Astrid. The fifth graders were accompanied by Rusty's younger brother Rocky, Astrid's younger brother Argent and her younger sister Anna; the older Spokes boy and the white-haired Ace girl both figured that Lincoln's siblings that were friends with Rocky, Argent and Anna would like having friends to hang out with. Everyone was surprised to see that the garage was set up as a classroom, what with the multiple student desks, the teacher desk, and there was even a rolling chalkboard. The only one aside from Lincoln, who had left to retrieve Lisa, to not be surprised by all of this was Clyde.

"Yeah, now I remember," Clyde remarked, "Lincoln's sister Lisa was able to buy a bunch of this stuff on the cheap when the school had to liquidate some assets because of collateral damage that Luan caused when she went a little crazy in getting revenge on some girl in Lucy's class that was picking on her a while ago."

"I'm surprised the school didn't try to hold Lincoln and Lucy's folks responsible," Rocky remarked casually.

"The school is still under the impression that a former president was the one who caused all of that damage," Lincoln's voice called out, prompting everyone to turn and see Lincoln enter with Lisa in tow. The white-haired boy also brought Lucy and the twins, given that Rocky, Argent and Anna were here.

"Okay girls," Lincoln said to his younger sisters aside from Lisa, "You and your friends can go play in the backyard. My friends and I will be needing Lisa here."

"You all wanna go play in the mud?" Lana asked Rocky, Argent and Anna.

"Allison's dog Fenrir likes playing in water," Anna remarked, sounding like she was trying to be helpful.

"Well mud is part water," Lana pointed out.

"No mud, Lana," Lola said in a mildly disgusted tone, "However, I think that the six of us can have a tea party."

"I was just planning on telling Argent and Lucy about my older brother's latest fails," Rocky said in a casual tone, "Seriously. I got quite the list."

"Sounds like fun," Lucy commented as she, her sisters, Rocky, Argent and Anna all went into the Loud family's backyard. After they were gone, Lisa turned to regard Lincoln and the other fifth-graders.

"Okay then, students," Lisa began as she walked over to the teacher's desk that was in the garage, "Thanks to Lincoln providing me with the appropriate chapter in the text book you all are learning from in your history class, I was able to create a lesson plan that will help all of you learn what's needed to pass the test that you all are expecting this Friday." After taking a stick of chalk from a drawer in the teacher's desk, Lisa went over to the rolling blackboard and wrote 'Korean War' on it.

"We will now begin our lesson on the Korean War," Lisa said after turning around, "Are there any questions before we get started?" Right away, Rusty shot a hand up. "Yes, Rusty?" Lisa said as she called on the older Spokes boy.

"Will this be on the test?" Rusty asked.

Sighing in an annoyed tone, Lisa muttered to herself, "This is going to be a _long_ study session."

* * *

During the next study session in the classroom garage, Lisa was carrying out a lesson in the impromptu class. As Lisa was writing something on the chalkboard, she saw that a spit wad had smacked into the board about a foot over her head. Stopping in her writing on the board, Lisa turned around and eyed her class suspiciously. Failing to see any signs of who could have been the one to have shot that spit wad, Lisa slowly turned back around.

Resuming what she was writing on the board, Lisa relaxed a little, but immediately stopped again when another spit wad smacked into the board. Lisa turned around quickly, this time making her students look a bit confused; Lincoln and Astrid even started to look around to see what was trying to get Lisa's attention so much. Slowly, and with a look of suspicion on her face, Lisa turned back around to resume writing on the board, but stopped once again when a third spit wad smacked into the board above Lisa's head.

"Alright!" Lisa swore in an annoyed tone as she turned around, "Which one of you is the one who keep on-" Lisa stopped short when she saw something, or rather some _one_ , sitting in the classroom that wasn't supposed to be there. Slowly, everyone in the class turned and saw that at one of the two unused student desks sat a young boy; this boy had fair skin and medium-long brown hair, and he wore a long-sleeved blue shirt that had a (mechanical) grease stain on it, a pair of gray pants with a smudge on the one knee, a pair of white shoes, and a green baseball cap that was the boy wore in a backwards style. The boy was also holding a straw in his right hand, and he had a sheet of paper that had bits of it torn off sitting on the surface of the desk he sat at.

"Is Lana here?" the boy asked.

Jerking a thumb in the direction of the backyard, Lincoln said, "She's in the backyard, Skippy."

"Thanks," the young boy, identified as Lana's crush Skippy, replied as he got up from the desk, collected a backpack he brought with him, then went to head into the backyard. After Skippy left, Lisa sighed in a frustrated tone.

"…This is going to be a _very long_ study session," Lisa sighed in a frustrated tone as she facepalmed.

* * *

With minimal other interruptions, Lisa was able to help tutor the fifth graders, getting them as ready for their test on Friday as she could. After school on that Friday, Lincoln and his sisters who were old enough to attend RWES were at home, relaxing and anticipating the weekend that was ahead of them. "So, Lincoln," Lisa began in a curious tone, "I have to ask. How did you and all of your friends do on that history test today?"

"We all passed," Lincoln replied, "In fact, all of us got 'A's!" Hearing that their older brother and all of his friends did well, the younger Loud girls all cheered in celebration. However, Lisa did not cheer; the four-year-old Loud girl had a look on her face that suggested that something had gone as she had predicted.

"Yes," Lisa remarked in a neutral tone, "I'm glad to see that I was able to be of help." Getting up from where she sat at the table, Lisa said, "I'm heading up to me and Lily's room." The brainy Loud sibling then took her leave, leaving her older siblings looking mildly confused.

"Umm, guys?" Lana began in a mildly concerned tone, "Do any of you think that Lisa is acting a bit, you know, off?"

"She's probably going to check on an experiment," Lincoln replied, "I'll go check on her."

* * *

Up on the second floor of the Loud family residence, Lincoln walked over to the door that led into Lisa and Lily's room. The door was closed, so Lincoln moved to knock on it. But before he made the first knock, Lincoln stopped short as he heard what sounded like a one-person party coming from the bedroom. And since he saw Lily being fed from a bottle by their mom downstairs, Lincoln knew that the partying could only be coming from one possible person.

"…Lisa?" Lincoln called out in a mildly confused tone, gripping the doorknob, gently turning it, then slowly opening the door so he could enter the room. When he did, the white-haired boy saw to his bafflement that Lisa was dancing around the room in celebration, as if she had just made some grand discovery that would revolutionize science as everyone knew it.

"Lisa, are you okay?" Lincoln asked, his tone losing none of its bafflement as we walked into the room, getting Lisa's attention in the process.

"Oh, this is a bit embarrassing," Lisa said in an embarrassed tone as she stopped dancing around; she even walked over to a mini radio that was playing music and turned it off. "My apologies if you catching me dancing struck you as odd," Lisa remarked to her older brother.

"Why were you dancing?" Lincoln said in a mildly confused tone as he walked over and stood next to Lisa.

"To be completely honest, history isn't one of my strongest subjects," Lisa began to explain, "I'm more of a math and science kind of girl, after all. But you and all of your friends who I tutored passed that history test. As such…" Gesturing to around the bedroom, Lisa continued, "…I couldn't help but celebrate."

Lincoln, to put things mildly, was surprised; partly due to finding Lisa admitting that a subject isn't something that she's good at, but mostly because he found the brainy four-year-old dancing and celebrating due to a personal advancement. He did not expect something like this out of the stoic four-year-old.

Lisa, without being able to control herself, threw her arms around Lincoln, buried her face into his shirt, and proceeded to start laughing in a giddy manner. This only served to further confuse the sole Loud boy. "Thanks again, Lincoln!" Lisa remarked.

"…Because you seemingly got better at a subject you weren't as good at as math and science?" Lincoln asked in a confused tone.

"No, my dear older brother," Lisa replied, calming down a bit and releasing her hold on the white-haired boy, "For trusting me." Seeing the confused look on her older brother's face, Lisa explained, "I know that you still have yet to forgive me for my part in the transgression that prompted you to run away. But you still came to me for help, you were counting on me to help see you and your friends through something difficult." Wiping a stray tear from the corner of her right eye, Lisa continued, "Thank you for trusting me. I'm glad that I didn't let you down."

Chuckling a bit in a gentle and mildly amused tone, Lincoln said, "Lisa, look at me." With the four-year-old Loud girl's attention solely on him, Lincoln explained, "No one is perfect. We all make mistakes. But that's why we have other people such as family and friends around; they help us make up for our screw-ups, we help them in return, and we all help each other reach our respective goals. The goal that my friends and I had was to all pass that test."

Gently, Lincoln scooped Lisa up, walked over to Lisa's bed and sat down on the edge, sat Lisa down on his lap, then gave her a warm and gentle hug. "And we all reached that goal because of you," Lincoln continued, "Thank you, Lisa." Giving the hug a bit of an extra squeeze before he let Lisa go, Lincoln said as he got up and sat Lisa back on her bed where he (Lincoln) was sitting, "I bet that you've had something of a tiring day, and you are only four. I won't stand for any sister of mine being tired, so you should take a bit of a nap before dinner. I'll come get you when dinner's ready." Before she could object, Lisa let out a yawn that indicated that she was indeed tired, proving her older brother right.

"Okay Lincoln," Lisa said as she took her shoes off, sat them on the floor near her bed, then crawled under the covers of her bed. "I'll see you at Hey wait a minute!" Lisa said, deviating midsentence as she realized something, "Lincoln, did you just refer to-" The brainy Loud sibling was cut off when, as she laid under the covers, Lincoln leaned forward and, as if he were a parent to a young child, gave Lisa's forehead a gentle kiss before standing back up.

Giving Lisa's hair a gentle ruffle, Lincoln said, "Sleep tight, Lisa." Lincoln turned to turn off the lamp that was in the room, then he walked towards the bedroom door, turned the bedroom light off, then left the room, closing the door behind him. The brainy Loud sibling realized that she was more tired than she had realized; yes, today's events were rather exciting, better than what she was counting on, and she celebrated more than what a stoic person like herself normally would do. Even with the good news Lisa heard today, she still felt guilty for her role in what had happened, mostly because she couldn't believe someone as smart as her could have even been a part of that tomfoolery.

…But, after she had been reassured by a brother who had accepted her as his sister again that everyone would be there to help everyone else, Lisa felt a lot better. With her mind at ease, Lisa allowed herself to drift off to sleep.

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER NINETEEN

Author's notes:

…Yeah, I wanted to feature Lisa doing something somewhat silly that no one, or at least a whole lot of people, would not have expected her to do, thus I went for Lisa doing that little celebratory dance in her and Lily's room. But yeah, with two more sisters having been accepted by Lincoln again, it won't be long now until all of the family is Lincoln's family again. Anywho, the next chapter is going to be something of a breather, and for what I have in mind, Skippy and Winston will both be playing big roles. And naturally, this means that both Lana and Lola will also be playing big roles as well.

No, I'm not counting this story as one of the _other_ two Loud House stories that I'm working on; those other two are 'Awkward Hero' and 'Broken Mirror: New War'. Yes, I can see how a story from Francisco's point of view would make for an interesting tale, and I could actually see myself writing a story like that, but not anything soon, I'm afraid. I'm sorry, but I can't answer that question without spoiling something major.


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image

Chapter twenty: Buddy Assist

Lincoln Loud was walking through a residential area in his hometown of Royal Woods, Michigan one day. On this particular occasion, Lincoln was accompanied by his younger sisters Lola and Lana, the six-year-old twins of the Loud family. In addition to Lola and Lana, the group also had Skippy, a boy in RWES's first-grade year, same as the twins. Skippy also just so happens to be the boy that Lana has a crush on; as far as Lincoln could tell, the feeling might be mutual.

"Why are we heading over to Winston's place again?" Lana asked, sounding as if she was not going to enjoy heading to the group's destination, which was the residence of Winston, another six-year-old who was in RWES's first-grade year. And similar to how Lana has a crush on Skippy, Lola has a crush on Winston.

"Winston said that he found something really cool yesterday in his family's backyard while he and his older sister Samantha were helping to dig some holes in the ground in preparation for constructing a patio of some kind," Skippy explained, "Winston is a close personal friend of mine, so naturally he invited me over so he can show me what he found."

"Winston also invited me over to show me what he found because he's a proper gentleman who knows how to treat ladies such as myself," Lola added as she addressed her older twin sister, "You're coming along because mom thought that it would be nice since both Skippy and I are going, and Lincoln here was kind enough to see us all over."

"Well mom wanted to make sure that you two and Skippy all got to Winston's place safely," Lincoln remarked. After the group turned around a corner, the house where Winston and his family lived came into view. After a brisk walk over, Lincoln and the first graders made it to their destination.

"Allow me," Lola said as the group reached the front door. Reaching up, the pageant winning Loud sibling rang the doorbell, and after the group waited for a few seconds, the door was answered by Winston. He wasn't wearing his usual jacket, but he was wearing the light blue vest, which was worn over a long-sleeved white shirt. Other than that, Winston's attire looked like it usually does.

"Ah, I was wondering when you all would come!" Winston greeted in a friendly tone, "Please, come in!" After Lincoln and the others made their way in, Winston remarked to Lincoln and Lana, "Truthfully, I was only expecting Lola and Skippy to come over, but having you two as well is a welcomed surprise."

"Me and my sisters' mom wanted me to make sure my sisters got over here safely, and she also thought that it'd be nice if Lana came since both Lola and Skippy were coming," Lincoln said.

Nodding in an understanding manner, Winston replied, "That's very reasonable." Clapping his hands together, Winston continued, "Now then, since everyone's here, I suppose that now would be a good time to-"

"Hey, Winston," an older female voice called out, cutting Winston off in the process and making him and everyone else turn to see a teenage girl standing there. She had fair skin and blonde hair like Winston, but the girl's blonde hair had a streak of blue in it. Also, the girl wore a towel around her body, and her hair was damp, indicating that she had just gotten out of the shower. "Your shampoo and conditioner are both empty," the older girl began, a mild hint of annoyance in her tone, "What the heck?"

"Well of course they're both empty, Samantha," Winston replied, "I used the last of both in my shower earlier! You really ought to get your own shampoo and conditioner!"

"Wait a minute," Lincoln said as he got a look at Winston's older sister, "…Sam?! Is that you?!"

Looking at the guests that Winston had, the older girl cracked a smile. "Hey, little bro!" The older girl, revealed to be Sam, said in a pleasantly surprised tone, "You never told me that you were having some of Luna's siblings over!"

"Wait a minute, hold up," Lincoln said, getting everyone to look at him. Turning to face Lola, Lincoln said, "How come you never brought up the fact that Winston's sister Samantha was Luna's girlfriend Sam?"

"To be honest, I never knew that either until just now," Lola replied honestly as she gave a dumbfounded shrug, "Winston always referred to his older sister as Samantha, so I just assumed that was her actual name."

"It _is_ her actual name, but she prefers to go by her nickname," Winston explained, "And speaking of my older sister." Turning around, Winston said to Sam, "Aren't you going to get dressed? I'm pretty sure mom wouldn't like hearing about how you were walking around wearing only a towel while I had friends over."

"Winston, little dude, you need to take a chill," Sam remarked in a relaxed and laid-back manner, "I'm pretty sure that-" Sam was cut off when a phone home that was on a nearby hallway table went off. Turning around, Sam walked over to the phone to answer it while her back was turned to the younger kids. "Hello, you just reached Sam, the most rocking girl in Royal Woods," Sam said as she spoke into the phone, "To who am I speaking…Luna, dude! What's up?!" Lincoln and the first-graders watched as Sam talked on the phone to Luna, who by chance had called while they were all over.

"…Nothing much," Sam said into the phone, "Hey, some of your siblings are over here. My guess is that Winston wanted to show off that fancy sparkly rock that he found while we were helping digging some holes in the yard in preparation for the new patio that our family is going to build. …Yeah, my mom wants to build a new patio for some odd reason. So anywho, to what do I owe the pleasure of hearing your lovely voice? …*GASP* Are you kidding me?! No way, dude! That is _SICK_!" Lincoln had no idea what Sam and his sister were talking about, but judging by the excited tone Sam was using, it had to be something that both girls really liked.

"Well anywho, I ought to let you go," Sam said, "I just got out of the shower, and I need to get dressed. Okay, see you later, Luna." After hanging up the phone, Sam turned around to face the younger kids. "Dudes, Luna just scored two tickets to the upcoming rock concert at the Royal Woods concert hall this Saturday!" Sam said as she shot the younger kids a thumbs-up with her free hand (the other hand was busy keeping the towel up), "This weekend is totally going to be off the chain!"

"Yes, yes," Winston replied, "You and your girlfriend are going to have a very nice time at the concert this Saturday. Now will you _please_ go get dressed? The last thing that we need is for you to walk around while wearing only a towel while there are five younger children present, three of which are boys!"

"Pfft, you're a spoil sport, lil' bro," Sam remarked in a mildly annoyed tone before turning around and heading off to her bedroom. After the older girl had gone to her room, Winston turned to face his guests.

"I am so sorry that you all had to see my older sister act like the decadent philistine that she is," Winston said in an apologetic tone.

"Your older sister isn't the only one who acts like that," Lola replied to her crush in a knowing deadpan tone.

* * *

A short while later, Lincoln, the twins and Skippy were sitting in the living room while waiting for Winston to get back. Their patience paid off, because Winston came into the living room, his hand clasped around something. "Well then, everyone, here it is," Winston said as he showed the guests what he had found; it was a bright red, sparkly rock that seemed like it was a gemstone. "This is what I found yesterday," Winston said as he showed off his discovery.

"Winston, it's pretty!" Lola remarked, her eyes fixed on her crush's discovery.

"It looks like a hunk of cherry-flavored candy," Lana said, as if she were imagining that Winston's discovery was actually candy.

"I'm more of a strawberry candy kind of guy myself, but the color's roughly the same," Skippy commented, silently wishing that he had some candy. As the first-graders stared at the sparkly rock, Lincoln's eyes widened as he looked at it himself, realizing what the rock might actually be. "…Hey Winston," Lincoln began, "Can I see that rock really quick?"

"Sure thing," Winston replied as he walked over and handed his discovery over to Lincoln. The white-haired boy gave the rock a quick look over, tilting it slightly so he could examine it from every side. After a few seconds, Lincoln handed the rock back over to Winston. "So, what do you think?" Winston asked the older boy.

"I think that you found a ruby," Lincoln replied.

"A RUBY?!" all four of the first graders exclaimed in unison.

Nodding in the affirmative, Lincoln explained, "I'm pretty sure it's a ruby, although just to be on the safe side, we should get Lisa to take a look at it. She's good at examining things, so we can count on her to give us a more accurate judgment."

"Oh, you mean your sister Lisa," Winston replied, "Umm…she's that tall, bossy one that Lola says passes gas all the time, right?"

Giggling cutely in a manner that clearly showed that she found what Winston said to be funny, Lola said, "No, no, Winston, that's Lori. Lisa is my younger sister with the brown hair and the glasses."

"Wait, I thought that was your sister Lynn," Skippy said, a confused look on his face.

"Lynn is one of our older sisters," Lana corrected, "She's the one who's into a lot of sports and tries to turn pretty much everything into a sport."

"I thought that was Leni," Winston remarked.

"No, Leni is me and Lana's older sister who's really into fashion," Lola clarified.

"I thought that was Luna," Skippy said.

"No, Luna is the one that Samantha is going out with," Winston said, "But I believe that we're getting off subject here." Looking at his possible ruby, Winston continued, "Imagine if this really did turn out to be a ruby. That would make it the find of the century."

"Well we should get Lisa to look at it with her science stuff first, just like Lincoln said," Lola advised, "Lisa's smart, so we can trust her."

After everyone agreed that they would take that course of action, Skippy said, "Okay then. Just so we're all clear on this, Lisa is one of your older sisters, right?"

* * *

Over at the Loud family residence, Lincoln, Lola, Lana, Skippy and Winston were standing around in Lisa and Lily's room, watching as Lisa examined the supposed ruby that Winston had found. "Mmm hmm," Lisa hummed to herself as she viewed the sparkly stone through one of those magnifying glasses used by people when examining precious stones and other such valuables. After a few more seconds, Lisa handed the stone back to Winston as she said, "Well I believe that congratulations are in order, Winston. You are now the proud owner of a ruby."

"Wow, isn't this great, Winston?" Lola said in an excited tone, "You have a gemstone!"

"I still can't believe I actually got this," Winston remarked in a tone that was a mix of surprised and mildly unsure, "I mean, what do I do with it?"

"I'd hold on to it if I were you," Lincoln advised, "I have no doubt that it's valuable, so you need to keep it someplace safe."

"Lincoln's got a point, Winston," Lana said. Turning to face Skippy, who was looking at the crib in the room, Lana said, "What do you think, Skippy?"

After a few seconds, Skippy turned around and said, "I'm sorry, but I didn't quite catch that." Turning back around, Skippy continued, "Your baby sister Lucy distracted me. I have to admit that she's rather adorable."

"Skippy, that's Lily," Lana clarified, "Lucy is my older sister who wears a lot of black and writes a lot of poetry."

"Hang on," Winston interrupted, "I thought that was Luan."

"No, Luan is our older sister who likes telling jokes and pulling pranks," Lola corrected.

"I thought that was Lola," Skippy remarked with a confused look on his face as he turned back around, prompting Lana to laugh hysterically.

"I'M LOLA!" Lola exclaimed, clearly annoyed with her sister's crush's idiocy.

"Lola, dear, please calm down," Winston said gently in a tone that showed he was concerned, "There's nothing to be gained from losing your temper."

As the first graders were talking to each other, Lincoln turned to face Lisa. "…I think that we ought to prepare some flash cards to help teach Winston and Skippy which one of you girls is which," Lincoln said dryly to his brainy younger sister.

"Such a set of flash cards can be useful to more than just those boys," Lisa remarked, her tone clearly indicating that she agreed with her older brother.

* * *

The following afternoon, Lincoln was in the Loud family's backyard, keeping an eye on Lana and Skippy, the later of which came over because Lana wanted to show him how she improved Lola's princess car, figuring that if she taught Skippy how she did it, then he'd be able to do the same to variations of the princess car that are aimed at boys. Lincoln thought that it was rather cute how Lana wanted her crush to be able to accomplish the same mechanical feats that she has been known to-

"LANA! SKIPPY! WE NEED YPUR HELP" Lola's voice called out, clearly fuming. Lincoln turned around, and Lana and Skippy stopped what they were doing to look over, to see Lola enter the backyard with Winston following her. The impeccably attired six-year-old boy seemed very troubled by something, and was clearly trying to put on a brave face.

"Lola, Winston, what's going on?" Lincoln asked as he, Lana and Skippy came over, "And why does Winston look so upset?"

"The ruby that I found wasn't where I left it," Winston explained, "I distinctly remember placing it in the drawer of my nightstand in my bedroom last night before I went to bed, but when I opened my nightstand drawer this morning, the ruby was gone. This is especially terrible since I finally figured out what I wanted to do with the ruby, but since it's gone, my plan is shot."

"The ruby's gone?" Skippy said, clearly looking shocked. Shaking his head in a manner to try to get his mind focused, Skippy said to Winston, "Don't worry, man, I'll help you find it!"

"Alright!" Lana said as she pumped a fist into the air, "Looks like we're on the case!"

* * *

Over at Winston's family's place, Lincoln and the first-graders went to Winston's room to begin the search for the missing ruby. Upon Winston opening the door and letting everyone in, Lincoln and the others were amazed to see a surprisingly tidy room with dark bluish paint on the walls, a bookshelf with a good number of books on it, and there were even those two masks, one happy and one sad, that are often associated with theater.

"What's with the masks?" Lana asked as she pointed to the twin masks.

"Oh, Winston says that he wants to be a therapist when he grows up," Skippy explained.

"It's pronounced 'thespian', my good man," Winston corrected.

Turning around to face Winston, Skippy asked, "Is that a fancy word for therapist?"

"No, it's a fancy word for actor," Winston replied. Walking over to the nightstand that was next to his bed, Winston pulled it open, and when everyone else walked over, they saw that the drawer only contained a few pencils, a pen, and an eraser. "There's no way that the ruby could have gotten lost in a jumble in the drawer because there isn't enough stuff in there to create a jumble," Winston remarked.

"Well don't worry, Winston," Lola said, "That's why we're all here. We're going to help you find it!" As the others also tried to raise Winston's spirits, Sam went walking past the open doorway of Winston's bedroom. Sam came back about a second later, looked into the room, and saw all of the guests.

"Whoa, little dude," Sam remarked to her little brother, "You never told me you were having a party! Where's the table with all the grub?"

"This isn't that kind of party, Samantha," Winston replied to his older sister, "I invited Skippy, Lola and two of Lola's siblings over to help me find the ruby that I found when we were helping mom with digging holes in the yard in preparation of building that patio she wanted."

"Oh, you mean that thing?" Sam asked, "Well where did you keep it?"

"In the drawer of my nightstand, but it wasn't there when I next checked it," Winston explained.

"Hmm," Sam hummed as she walked over to her little brother's nightstand, opened it, and checked things out a bit. "…Huh, well I'll be," Sam said as she pulled the drawer out of the nightstand. Showing the end of the drawer to everyone, Sam pointed out that there was a hole in the back of the drawer, a hole that looked like it was made by a small rodent. "I knew that mom should have called an exterminator," Sam remarked as she stuck her finger through the hole, "It looks like a mouse stole your ruby, little bro."

"A mouse stole Winston's ruby?" Lola said in an incredulous tone, "What would a mouse even want with a ruby?"

"The mouse must have thought that it was a piece of food or something," Skippy remarked, "I mean, it did kind of look like a piece of fruit-flavored hard candy." Walking over to his friend's nightstand, Skippy looked into where the drawer was pulled out of. Pulling the nightstand itself away from the wall, Skippy revealed that not only was there a hole in the back of the nightstand, but that there was also a hole in the wall of Winston's bedroom, about at the level of where the drawer of the nightstand would be.

"…Wow, you don't see that every day," Skippy remarked as everyone looked at the hole.

"Well this is just great," Winston said in an annoyed tone of complaint, "Now our family's mouse problem is coming back to bite us in the rear, all because mother wasn't quick enough to call an exterminator."

"Relax, Winston," Lincoln said, "All Lola, Lana and I have to do is head back to our place, tell Lisa what's going on, and bring her back here with the appropriate tech needed to get the ruby back from the mice."

"Oh, if you guys are heading back to your place, can you also grab Luna?" Sam asked, "I need some sugar from her."

"But Samantha, the sugar canister in the kitchen is full," Winston pointed out, a mildly confused look on his face.

"Not that kind of sugar," Sam replied.

* * *

Later, after Lincoln and the twins came back to Winston's place, everyone was standing around while Lisa was working on a laptop that she had set up on Winston's bed. There was some sort of antenna plugged into one of the USB ports in the laptop. "Wow," Lisa remarked aloud as she looked at a live video feed that was playing on her laptop, "It's rather amazing what the mice have been able to do within the walls of your family's abode, Winston. It's pretty much a maze in there."

"What exactly did you do, Lisa?" Skippy asked.

"I put a mouse-sized mouse robot into the hole in Winston's wall," Lisa began to explain, "I'm controlling the robot via imputing commands with my laptop, and the video feed is coming from a miniature camera in the robot."

"So, this is like looking through the eyes of a mouse?" Lana asked, then after Lisa gave a nod in the affirmative, Lana added, "Cool!"

Everyone crowded around a bit to look at the live video feed on Lisa's laptop. From the looks of it, it seemed like it was coming from a point of view where one was trying to make their way through a maze of wood, large metal nails, and pink fluffy wall insulation. "Hopefully we should be able to locate the ruby within short order," Lisa remarked, "After all, we're currently on a path that seems to have been made by the mice, so logically we AHA!" Lisa suddenly exclaimed as the live video feed showed that the ruby had been located. Upon seeing the ruby, everyone else began to cheer in victory.

"Yes, yes," Lisa said in a tone that suggested that she wanted the others to simmer down, "Now all I have to do is-" Lisa stopped short when the video feed shook a bit, as if the robot mouse whose eyes they were looking through was bumped into. Using the controls on her laptop, Lisa made the mouse turn around and see a real mouse of roughly equal size. From the looks of it, it seemed that the actual mouse wanted to fight the mouse-sized mouse robot.

"Oh dear, this doesn't look good," Lisa said, "At least I had the foresight to make my mouse robot capable of fighting back against real mice incase of any hostilities." Lisa then proceeded to input some commands, and from the video feed, everyone saw the paws of the robot mouse swipe at the real mouse. The real mouse attempted to bite at one of the robot mouse's ears, but another paw swipe made the real mouse back off. "Grrr," Lisa growled in a mildly annoyed tone, "Because of that other mouse, this is going to take-"

"Wazzup, little dudes?" Luna's voice called out, prompting Lincoln and the first graders (Lisa couldn't take her attention away from the computer) to look up and see Luna and Sam standing in the doorway of Winston's bedroom.

"Luna, now's not a good time," Lola said, "Lisa's trying to get Winston's ruby out of the wall with her robot mouse, but a real mouse is trying to fight the robot one!"

"Say what now?" Sam said as she and Luna walked around and came up to see what was on the screen of Lisa's laptop. Upon seeing the video feed and what Lisa was doing, Sam's eyes lit up. "Dudes!" Sam exclaimed, "This game looks totally sick!"

"It's not a-HEY!" Lisa began, but she exclaimed midsentence when Sam shoved her out of the way and took over. Lisa was about to try to force Sam away from the laptop, but seeing the girl with the blue hair streak going at it, then seeing from the video feed that the robot mouse, under Sam's control, was absolutely punishing the real mouse, decided to watch and observe. About twelve seconds after Sam took over, the real mouse turned around and fled.

"Hey, get back here!" Sam shouted at the computer screen, but Lisa proceeded to shove her out of the way.

"That wasn't a game," Lisa said, "What you were watching was a live video feed from a mouse robot that I put into the wall to get Winston's ruby back after a mouse stole it." Imputing some commands into her laptop, Lisa made the robot mouse turn around and show the ruby that was still inside the wall. Seeing this, Luna's eyes and Sam's eyes both widened. "Although to your credit, you were doing a far better job at fighting the real mouse off than I was," Lisa remarked, "So give yourself a pat on the back."

"Do you play online games?" Skippy asked. Pointing to Lisa's laptop, Skippy continued, "Because seriously. You were tearing it up there!"

"Oh, I used to dabble," Sam replied in a self-amused casual tone, "But after I discovered my passion for rocking out, I sort of fell out of the gaming scene. Although I had one hell of a headshot count on this one FPS title before I stopped gaming."

"I see," Lisa remarked. Turning around to face her laptop again, Lisa continued, "Well anyway, I need to use my mouse robot to grab the ruby and drag it back out of the wall."

"What, there's no more giant mice to fight?" Sam said, "Lame." Within the next few minutes, Lisa's mouse robot managed to get Winston's ruby back out of the wall. Everyone cheered in celebration as both the ruby and the robot mouse came out of the wall.

"So, Winston," Lincoln began, "Now that you got your ruby back, what are you going to do with it? You did say that you had a plan for it."

"Indeed, I do have a plan for it, Lincoln," Winston replied to the white-haired boy. Turning to face Lola, Winston handed her the ruby while saying, "Here you go, Lola. This is for you."

Gasping in surprise, Lola said, "You're giving it to me?" The pageant winning Loud sister then squealed excitedly as she jumped up and down repeatedly before throwing her arms around Winston's shoulders while thanking him repeatedly. The others in the room watched this display, their hearts touched by how sweet it was.

* * *

The following day at the Loud family's residence during breakfast, Lincoln was siting at the table with a glass of juice while the twins, Lisa and Lucy were all having breakfast. "Winston actually gave you the ruby he found?" Lucy asked, "That was rather thoughtful of him."

"What do you intend to do with it, Lola?" Lisa asked.

"Keep it someplace safe," Lola replied, "And I already have it hidden, so no one but me knows where it is. It's also in a keepsake box, so there's no chance that a mouse will be able to snatch the ruby while it's hidden."

"Well I'm glad to see that you're taking care of it," Lincoln remarked.

"Well of course I'm going to take care of it," Lola said in a matter-of-factly kind of tone, "It's the first thing that my crush ever gave me."

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER TWENTY

Author's notes:

…I don't know why, but I always had the idea that even though Lola and Lana frequently fight with each other, their respective crushes Winston and Skippy would be as thick as thieves. Also, in case anyone was wondering about why Winston and Sam are related, well I _have_ been hinting at that over the course of the story so far. (In fact, I'm surprised that no one has guessed that those two were related, at least here.) This chapter was my attempt at a funny little distraction from the main plot, as I'm overall a humor guy at heart, but as always, how well this chapter does is up to you, the readers. Anywho, I have something in mind for the next chapter, and it's something that I'm certain that a number of readers have been wanting to see. It'll be rock'en, dudes.

One, how did you get those little triangles over the circles (I think it's pretty neat), and two, by 'making out', I meant that those two (Lori and Bobby) would have their arms around each other while they kissed each other. Nothing beyond that would take place.


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

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Chapter twenty-one: Failed Audition

It was a lovely enough morning in Royal Woods, Michigan. Most of the younger Loud children had already gone off to do their own thing; Lisa was giving a lecture at a nearby college, Lola and Lana were playing at the park with Lynn supervising them, Lucy went with Lincoln to the Spokes residence so she can hang out with Rocky while Lincoln and Rusty discussed important things related to the video games they play, and Luan was performing at a birthday party. This left Lily, the baby of the Loud family, and the three oldest Loud girls, Luna, Leni and Lori, still at the Loud family residence.

Luna went into the room shared by Lisa and Lily in order to check on the baby Loud sibling. As the rocker had expected, she found Lily laying in her crib. Lily was lying on her back, her arms and legs wiggling around, and as soon as she saw her musically inclined older sister, Lily started to make whining noises, as if something was bothering her, making her upset.

Luna had a pretty good idea what was making Lily upset; even though she was only just a baby, Lily was rather perceptive. Lily knew that her older brother was gone for an extensive period of time, and that it was because of something bad the rest of the family did. Lily could also tell, even after he had come back, that Lincoln was still upset, undoubtedly because of the bad thing that the family had done that made him go away for a while. Luna was likewise feeling upset; shortly after he came back, Lincoln slowly started to reconcile with the family. At some point, Lincoln accepted the Loud family matriarch Rita as his mother again, and although it was off at a slow start, Lincoln eventually reached the point where he acknowledged eight of the ten Loud girls as his sisters again.

The two Loud girls that Lincoln has yet to accept as his sisters again are Lily and Luna.

After another whine from Lily, Luna gave a small, sympathetic smile that seemed sad and resigned. Reaching down into the crib, Luna scooped Lily up and cradled the baby Loud sibling in her arms. "…Yeah, I understand perfectly well how you must be feeling, little dudette," Luna said in a sympathetic tone to her baby sister, "Our bro Lincoln is still steamed at the two of us for what happened back before he-"

"Lincoln forgave Lily a while ago," Lori's voice called out from behind Luna, making the musically inclined Loud sister turn to see the oldest of their number standing in the doorway.

"W…What?" Luna said in a shocked tone, sounding as if a huge metaphorical bomb had just been dropped on her.

With a sigh, Lori said, "Yeah, he did so shortly after dinner the night that he accepted Lucy as his sister again. From what Lisa told me, Lincoln said that he can't honestly hold anything against Lily due to the fact that she's just a baby and thus doesn't know any better. Likewise, Lincoln had also let Charles, Cliff, Walt and Geo off the hook because on the basis that they are all animals who acted out of instinct, not humans acting out of superstition."

"…Oh…" Luna remarked in a downcast tone. Looking down to the floor, Luna felt ashamed of herself, and for good reason. Sure, she had just as much to do with decrying Lincoln as bad luck as the rest of the family, but Luna would argue that out of everyone in the family, she felt the worst about driving Lincoln to the point of running away. After all, Luna felt that she was one of the girls who was closest to their white-haired brother; for crying out loud, she made his first concert experience one of the best nights of his life! So naturally, when the sole Loud boy began the process of forgiving the family, Luna assumed that she would be among the first that Lincoln would acknowledge as family again.

But Luna _wasn_ ' _t_ among the first. In fact, she was among the _dead last_.

Luna did not know what to make of this.

After another whine from Lily, Luna's attention was snapped back to reality. "So, wait," Luna began, "If Lily wasn't whining because Lincoln hadn't forgiven her, then why is she whining?"

As Luna and Lori both thought about why their baby sister was whining, Lori suddenly caught a whiff of the rather nasty smell of a number two. "…Lily is whining because she literally needs her diaper changed," Lori pointed out, "Luna, you're already holding Lily and you're closest to the changing station. Would you mind?"

"Yeah, sure," Luna replied, her tone indicating that she really didn't care that the job had been more or less shoved onto her. Luna's tone also carried a hint of resigned sadness. A sadness that wasn't banished from Luna's mind even by the smell of what Lily had done in her diaper. Luna's mind was far too weighed down by the weight of what she was thinking about; at one point, Luna would make the argument that out of all of her and all of the other Loud girls, that she was the one that had the highest standing with their only brother.

…But as things stood now, out of all of the Loud girls, Luna had no doubt that her standing with Lincoln was by far the lowest.

* * *

Later that day, Luna was walking along on the sidewalk somewhere in the residential area of Royal Woods. The musically inclined Loud sibling never felt lower in all of her life. Luna once felt that her sibling bond with Lincoln was stronger than the sibling bond that she had with any of her sisters. Hell, Luna would never say this out loud (nor would she ever write it in her journal because a certain tiara-wearing six-year-old would undoubtedly read it), but out of all of her siblings, Lincoln was without a doubt her favorite.

…But as far as Luna knew, out of her and the other Loud girls, she's Lincoln's _least_ favorite.

Just thinking that made Luna's heart ache.

Normally, after leaving the house to get some fresh air, Luna would head straight to Sam's place; Sam was one hell of a girlfriend, and would undoubtedly try to cheer Luna up. But unfortunately for the musically inclined Loud sibling, Sam was unavailable due to a family-related issue that came up (this likewise left Winston unavailable to Lola), leaving Luna with just walking around outside in the hopes that the time outside and the fresh air would help her clear her head; Lily was taking a nap at the time Luna left on her walk, which nixed her usual option of jamming out to try and clear her head.

As Luna was walking, she heard a familiar male voice call out, "Oi, Lori's younger sister! Over here!" Looking up, Luna saw that not only had she by chance wandered into the part of the neighborhood where the Ace family lived, but that she was walking past their house while Aggro was standing in the front yard. Judging by the fact that he was carrying a small plastic shopping bag, the male Ace twin had just returned from a trip to the store. Luna decided to walk over so she could talk to the Swedish/Japanese seventeen-year-old.

"Aggro, what's up?" Luna asked.

Holding up the shopping bag he was carrying, Aggro said, "Astrid's fallen under the weather I'm afraid. Granted, this time has nothing to do with her usual sickness, but I'm still going to make sure that Astrid gets the rest she needs. I just came back from picking up some medicine, a can of tomato soup, and a few other things."

"Wait a minute," Luna began to reply, a confused look on her face, "Tomato soup? Don't people usually eat chicken noodle soup when they're sick?"

"Astrid prefers tomato soup," Aggro explained.

"Oh," Luna said, understanding why Aggro would deviate from the standard path. As Luna's previous somber expression started to return, the male Ace twin noticed the change.

"…You are troubled," Aggro remarked, "Do you wish to talk about it?"

"It's…a bit of a story," Luna replied, her tone somber and unsure.

Gesturing to his family's house, Aggro said, "Well other than Astrid, who's sick in bed, or any of the pets, I'm the only one home right now. I've got some time on my hands, so I'm willing to hear what's on your mind, provided that you're willing to share."

Luna was surprised that Aggro, of all people, would be willing to give her some of his time; she figured that Aggro would be more inclined to talk to Lori since they both know each other thanks to Allison, and Luna was with the other Loud girls one-hundred percent when it came to Leni trying to pursue a romantic relationship with the male Ace twin. But Aggro wants to talk to Luna? Still, the musically inclined Loud sibling felt like she needed to get something off of her chest, and Aggro just said that he's willing to lend her an ear. Who was she to decline?

"…You sure I won't be a bother?" Luna asked.

"I'm friends with your sister Lori, and I'm tutoring your brother Lincoln in Kendo," Aggro replied with a gentle and understanding smile, "Trust me, Luna, you won't be a bother." Luna smiled in an appreciative manner, happy that someone she knew and could trust was willing to hear her out.

* * *

After Aggro got the soup made for his little sister, he directed Luna to sit at the table so they could talk. At that point, Luna began to explain how her day was going; she was careful to leave out any and all details that were not to be made public knowledge, but Luna still told Aggro how she is the only one out of her and her sisters that hasn't been forgiven by Lincoln yet.

"…I see," Aggro remarked as he leaned back in his chair slightly, "I knew that out of you ten girls, that only four of you actively contributed to the suffering that compelled Lincoln-kun to run away from home, while the rest of the family had been duped into believing that it was just some sort of innocent game. I also knew that your brother has been slowly acknowledging your family little by little, and that he's even forgiven those who were directly responsible for driving him to the point that he ran away."

"Yeah, he has," Luna said in a remorseful tone, "But that's just it! Lincoln's let all of my sisters off the hook, but I'm still being strung up here!" Slumping in her seat, Luna added in a dejected tone, "And here I thought that Lincoln and I were close."

"…" Giving the musically inclined Loud sister a serious look, Aggro said, "…Lincoln-kun told Bobby and I about a nightmare that he had where he killed you." Upon hearing the male Ace twin say this, Luna sat back up instantly, her attention caught by Aggro.

"…Yeah," Luna replied in a resigned tone, "I know about that nightmare. Hell, I was the first one that Lincoln talked to about that dream. I remember waking up in the middle of the night by the sound of my little brother's frightened screaming. I was the first out of me and my sisters to reach Lincoln's room, and when I found him, he was sitting up in his bed, his face in his hands, and he was crying. I immediately sat down next to him and drew him into a hug to reassure him that everything was going to be alright. After he calmed down enough, Lincoln told me about his nightmare, and how he…" Pausing to take a steadying breath, Luna then continued, "…How he killed me in that nightmare. After a few minutes, I was able to get Lincoln to settle back down, so I left him to go back to bed. When I left Lincoln's room, I was greeted by all of my sisters. I told them that our brother had a bad dream where he killed someone. Since this happened shortly after Lincoln came back home, I didn't tell any of the girls _who_ Lincoln killed in his nightmare. I didn't want any of my sisters thinking that Lincoln was so upset with us that he might try to kill one of us at some point."

Aggro sighed as he considered everything that Luna had just told him. "Rest assured that your brother does not wish to kill you or any of your sisters," the male Ace twin said, "Lincoln-kun confided in Bobby and I that he was afraid that because of the nightmare that he had, that he might have been turning into a monster."

"M-my little brother thought that he was turning into a _monster_?!" Luna nearly exclaimed, shocked by what she had just heard.

"Bobby and I assured your brother that he was by no means a monster," Aggro stated, "The nightmare had left him feeling spooked and disturbed, and he vehemently stated that what he did in his nightmare was something that he would never want to do in real life, either to you or any of your sisters." His expression acquiring a hint of sympathy, Aggro continued, "Your bother does not wish to hurt you."

"…Yeah," Luna replied, "But after finding out that I'm the only one out of me and my sisters that Lincoln hasn't let off the hook, I…I can't help but feel hurt, you know?"

"I can understand what you're getting at, Luna," remarked the Swedish/Japanese seventeen-year-old. His expression taking on a more serious hint, Aggro continued, "But answer me _this_. Do you believe that your brother will refrain from hurting you in return if you hurt him?" Luna's eyes widened out of a mix of shock and surprise when Aggro asked her that question.

"What do you mean?" Luna asked.

"No one's patience is unlimited," Aggro replied, "Even those who one would expect to always keep a cool demeanor will eventually explode if given sufficient prodding. I had been informed by Lori about what happened the night that Lincoln-kun returned home, that your older sister Leni struck your younger sister Lynn in the eye upon finding out the truth of the quote unquote 'game' that she had played. Lori said that before that night, she never would have expected Leni to ever physically strike someone. From what Lori told me about Leni and from what I've come to know about Leni due to how often she comes by to watch me tutor Lincoln-kun, I myself would never expect Leni to ever physically strike someone."

"Yeah, I'm in the same boat as you and Lori on that one," Luna remarked, "I was not counting on Leni punching Lynn in the eye, let me tell you."

"And yet Leni is very similar to your brother in this regard," Aggro said, "Just as Leni has limits to what she's willing to put up with, so does your brother." With a sigh, Aggro said, "From what I figure, out of you and all of your sisters, Lincoln-kun was hurt the most by _your_ actions, even though you are not one of the four sisters who contributed directly to the suffering that made him run away."

"I…" Luna began, shocked by Aggro's assessment, "…I was the one who…who hurt Lincoln the _most_ …?"

"If you really were as close of a sibling to your younger brother as you claim," Aggro began to explain, "Then he would have expected you to try and stand up for him, after your parents, along with Lori and Leni, were all duped by the four sisters that were directly responsible for his suffering." Giving Luna a wry look that conveyed disappointment, Aggro added, "And yet you followed along with what everyone else was doing. If Lincoln-kun really did feel closer to you than to any of your sisters, then you betraying that trust hurt him more than anything else that any of your sisters had done. It's little wonder that your little brother hasn't forgiven you, even though he forgave all four of the sisters that were directly responsible for his suffering." He had been leaning forward somewhat at this point, so Aggro leaned back in his seat as he crossed his arms over his chest while giving Luna a disappointed scowl.

"All that Luan, Lynn, Lola and Lisa did was bully Lincoln-kun," Aggro said to Luna, "But with how you betrayed his trust in you, Luna, you _broke his heart_."

Even though Aggro didn't reach across and physically smacked Luna in the face as hard as he could, the musically inclined Loud sister felt as if the male Ace twin had just done so with the last few words he had just spoken. Is…is that why Lincoln hasn't forgiven her yet? She broke his heart with how she was quick to side with the family back when they thought he was bad luck? If that was true, then Luna would be beyond guilty, even more so than she already was.

"What…" Luna began, finding herself barely able to find the words as tears started to well up upon the revelation of just how badly she hurt her little brother, "…What should I do, Aggro? How…how do I make things right?"

With a resigned sigh, Aggro replied, "Luna, if I knew the answer to that question, then I would have given it to you in a heartbeat. But I have no clue what to tell you. This is something that only you can figure out." Giving Luna a sympathetic look, Aggro added, "But I hope that you figure out what that something is. Both for Lincoln-kun's sake and for yours. The suffering that the both of you are going through is not something that I would ever wish upon anyone."

Managing as much of a smile as she could, Luna replied, "Thanks, dude."

"Well Allison did say that you and your family were friends with us and our family," Aggro said, "It is only natural for one to lend aid to one's friends when they are in need of it. I hope that our talk did something to help you, Luna." Luna considered Aggro's words just now, considered everything that she and him had talked about. She knew that the male Ace twin had made a few good points, and she intended to act accordingly.

"…Yeah, Aggro," Luna replied, sounding like she had an idea on what to do, "It gave me a lot to think about." After thanking Aggro for his time, Luna respectfully took her leave. The musically inclined Loud sister then made her way home, planning out what she was going to do the entire walk back.

* * *

Later, back at the Loud family residence, Lori and Leni were heading over to their family's garage, where one can usually expect to find Luna. "What do you think Luna is doing in the garage, Lori?" Leni asked, "She, like, doesn't have any friends over to play music with."

"I literally have no idea what to tell you," Lori replied as the two oldest Loud girls entered the garage through a door on the side. Upon entering the garage, Lori and Leni found Luna doing a mike check while she was holding her standard purple electric guitar. Additionally, they also saw that Sam had come over and was also holding a guitar herself, and even Luna's roadie Chunk was here, sitting at a drum set as he made sure it was working properly. "…Uhh, Luna?" Lori called out, getting Luna, Sam and Chunk to all stop what they were doing and look over to see her standing there with Leni. Putting her hands on her hips, Lori asked, "What are you doing? I hope you aren't planning to play any of your music, because Lily is still taking a nap."

"Lori, relax," Sam remarked, "Luna said that we aren't going to play any music until after the little dude gets back from hanging out with his friends."

"Wait a minute," Leni began, "You mean Linky?"

"Who's Linky?" Sam replied, a confused look on her face.

"That's the nickname that Leni gave to Lincoln," Luna explained to her girlfriend. Facing her older sisters, Luna said, "Yes, we're going to wait for Lincoln to get back. After all, he's the one that we're going to be throwing this little concert for!"

"Seriously?" Lori said, crossing her arms over her chest as she gave her musically inclined younger sister a mildly confused look, "You're going to be playing music for Lincoln?"

"Well why not?" Luna replied, "I mean, we all screwed up big time, and we've all did our part to try and make things right." Gesturing to what she and her band were doing, Luna added, "All of this is my part."

"…Well if there's one thing that I can't deny, is that you and Lincoln do have similar tastes in music," Lori remarked as she gave a mildly amused smirk, "What with him liking SMOOCH." Lowering her arms, Lori continued as she gestured to where Luna and her band were setting up, "Yeah, I literally can't see how this would go wrong. I bet that Lincoln will love this."

"You know it!" Luna replied, pointing to Lori in a commending manner, "Anywho, the dudes here and I have to get back to getting ready for the performance." Turning to regard Leni specifically, Luna said, "And this is supposed to be a _surprise_ for Lincoln. Meaning that he isn't supposed to know about it until he enters the garage when he gets back home. Meaning _don_ ' _t_ _say anything about this to Lincoln_."

"Why were you, like, facing me when you said all of that?" Leni asked, an innocently confused look on her face.

"Because you have a history when it comes to spoiling surprises," Lori answered in Luna's place, knowing full well what Luna was trying to get at. As the two oldest Loud girls left the garage, Lori said to Leni, "Seriously, Leni. Why did you send Lisa an invite to the surprise party that we were going to throw for her?"

* * *

A short while later, right as Luna was going over some lyrics she wrote for the song that she was going to perform for Lincoln, Lincoln himself came walking into garage, having returned from hanging out with his friends. The sole Loud boy was accompanied by Lori. "I was told that you wanted to see me when I got back from hanging out with my friends?" Lincoln said to Luna in a questioning tone.

"Dude! Glad you can make it," Luna remarked in a clearly delighted tone as she saw her little brother. Gesturing to what she, Sam and Chunk were doing, Luna said, "Since I know you're still a little upset about what the girls and I did a while ago, I figured that a little performance here would be just the thing to get you jamming out with all of us again."

"…You don't say," Lincoln replied, his voice cooling over a bit. Luna, who was too excited about the performance that she and her band were about to do, along with Sam and Chunk themselves, did not notice the change in Lincoln's tone. However, Lori did notice the change, and it had her a bit worried.

"Alright, dudes," Luna said as she turned to face her band. When Luna turned to face Sam and Chunk, Lincoln took a mini notepad and a pen out, flipped the pad open, and began to write down a little note. "Let's get this party started!" Luna exclaimed, "A one, a two, a one two-" Luna was cut off when Lincoln held something out to her. Looking to see what it was, Luna saw that is was a note. Luna also saw, to her mild worry, that Lincoln was wearing a scowl on his face. With a bit of trepidation, Luna took the note from Lincoln, and as soon as the note was out of his hand, the white-haired boy turned around and left the garage, closing the side door behind him somewhat forcefully, although it was not an outright door slam.

Everything was quiet for a bit after Lincoln more or less stormed out of the garage, and the quiet was not broken until Lori dared to speak up. "What…what does the note say?" Lori asked, sounding as if she were afraid to find out the answer. Luna held the note up so she could read it, but she also feared what her little brother had written. The musically inclined Loud sister was right to worry, because what she read was nothing short of devastating;

 _If you think that doing what you always do to make up for everything will get me to forgive you_ , _then you have another thing coming_. ~ _Lincoln_

 _P_. _S_.: _How DARE you_.

Shocked beyond belief, Luna's arm that was held up simply fell to her side, with the note slipping out of her grasp. It fell near Lori, who bent over to pick it up. After reading the brief statement, Lori's eyes widened. "…Oh dear," Lori remarked in a concerned tone. Walking over to Luna, Lori gently laid a hand on her younger sister's right shoulder as she said, "Luna? Are you going to be okay?"

"I…" Luna replied in a heartbroken tone, "…I don't know, dude. I…just don't know." Walking over to a guitar stand, Luna continued in the same heartbroken tone as she placed her guitar on the stand, "Sam, Chunk, I think we should pack it up here. This gig was a bust."

"Whoa, bummer, dude," Sam remarked as she went over to a guitar case that was on the floor so she could put her guitar away. As Sam and Chunk proceeded to go about putting the musical instruments away, Luna looked up at Lori. The musically inclined Loud sibling looked as if she were about to cry. Lori knew that Luna was not feeling okay, so she gently drew her younger sister into a hug, with Luna's face buried in Lori's right shoulder.

Luna proceeded to soak that area of Lori's tank top by crying.

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Author's notes:

…Yeah, Luna is the only one of the Loud girls to have not been forgiven yet. Also, I've been wanting to toy with the idea where a sister tried to make amends with Lincoln, but he rejected their attempt. Don't worry, not all hope for Luna is lost, and in the next chapter, things will be picking up from where they left off here. As a side note, I'm going to wrap up this story in the next few chapters, partly because I'm wanting to make some final touches on that collection of one-shots (and my pet project) that I keep talking about before I get it up on this site, and partly because I have other things to work on.

Such as my stories 'Awkward Hero' and 'Broken Mirror: New War'.

By the way, thanks to Dread55 (I hope I got that right) for inspiring how I could have Luna go about trying to become Lincoln's sister again. I hope you don't mind that I borrowed some of your ideas.


	22. Chapter 22

Pre-chapter author's notes: I saw from some comments that some people are confused on when Lincoln reconciled with Lori. It happened back in chapter nineteen because of Lori's efforts in making sure that Lincoln's feelings were respected. Remember that one scene where Rita found that Lincoln and Lori had fallen asleep while playing video games? That was the moment that signified Lincoln recognizing Lori as his sister again. Anywho, without further ado, here's chapter twenty-two.

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

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Chapter twenty-two: Forgiving Lullaby

Things were not going so well for Luna Loud one evening at her family's place in Royal Woods, Michigan. Just a few hours ago, Luna, with assistance from her girlfriend Sam and her (Luna's) roadie Chunk, were gearing up to throw a rock performance in the garage of the Loud family residence for Luna's younger brother Lincoln. Some time ago, due to the family as a whole letting their stupidity get the better of them by decrying Lincoln as 'bad luck', the sole Loud boy ran away from home.

After he was gone for roughly two months, Lincoln finally returned home when he was found by sheer chance in some city in the next state over; Lori had driven all the way over to that city because her boyfriend Bobby's family was considering moving to that city, and Lori drove over in some half-baked bid to try and convince the Santiagos not to move. While Lori was over there, Lincoln was found laying passed out on the sidewalk on the other side of the street from the apartment building/bodega store where the Casagrandes, the Santiagos' extended family, lived. Bobby and his cousin Carlota collected Lincoln after he passed out, brought him inside, and handed him off to Lori, who was sitting in the living room of the Casagrande's apartment at the time.

By the way, with what Lincoln said about how he was found in that particular area of the city, combined with what Bobby's grandfather said about what was going on in the city at the time, the Santiagos decided not to move out of Royal Woods, with Santiago matriarch Maria stating that she felt that the city was far too dangerous a place for Ronnie Anne to grow up in.

Anyway, after Lori called her and the others to tell them that she found Lincoln, Luna and the other Loud girls were beyond overjoyed to hear that their brother was not only found, but that he was also okay, with nothing wrong beyond him just being tired. None of them could have waited until the sole Loud boy was back home with them. In fact, virtually all of the Loud girls, Luna herself included, thought that as soon as their brother was back home with them, that everything would be okay, that everything would go back to normal.

Never have they been so _wrong_.

Pretty much as soon as he came back, Lincoln made it perfectly clear that he was in no mood to deal with them, that as far as he was concerned, none of them were his sisters, nor were Rita and Lynn Sr. his parents. Hell, he even refused to acknowledge the family pets Charles, Cliff, Walt and Geo, for crying out loud! The Loud girls were nothing short of devastated when the white-haired boy referred to them as just Lori's sisters, and not his and Lori's sisters.

Luna was nothing short of heartbroken to hear her younger brother saying that she was effectively not his sister anymore.

Of course, Lincoln wasn't _completely_ done with the Louds; for reasons that Lincoln himself admitted he didn't quite know at the time, he decided to give the Louds a chance to make up for what they did, to prove to him that they were, in fact, his family. It was slow at first, but over time, Lincoln had come to acknowledge more and more of them as his family.

Luna was the only one out of the ten Loud girls that Lincoln hasn't forgiven yet; in fact, Luna was the only member of the family aside from Lynn Sr. that Lincoln hasn't yet acknowledged as his family again.

Afraid that her little brother, her _only_ brother, would never forgive her, Luna tried to set up the aforementioned performance in the garage, with Lincoln as the guest of honor. However, before Luna, Sam and Chunk could even get the first song (they were intending to play multiple songs) started, Lincoln handed his musically inclined older ex-sister a note before he turned around and stormed out of the garage. Upon reading the note her little brother wrote, Luna was nothing short of devastated.

Her attempt at apologizing to Lincoln actually _disgusted_ him.

Since everything had failed, Luna, with Sam and Chunk, packed everything up. Luna then proceeded to cry into Lori's shoulder, given that Lori was in the garage at the time and she gently drew Luna into a comforting hug, having read the note that Lincoln wrote after it had slipped out of Luna's hand.

After Sam and Chunk took their respective leaves, Luna went up to her and Luan's room on the second floor of their family's house, crawled onto her bunk of the bunk bed in the room (Luna slept on the top bunk), buried her face into a pillow, and cried some more. And that is were Luna is at right now; laying on her bed and crying into her pillow. The musically inclined Loud girl's attempt to try and reconcile with her little brother, her _only_ brother, had been rejected.

 _Luna_ had been rejected.

As Luna cried into her pillow, she heard a gentle voice call out, "Luna? Sweetie? Are you okay?" Getting her face out of her pillow, Luna looked over and saw that her mother Rita was standing in the doorway of the bedroom. Realizing that her mother most likely wanted to talk to her, Luna got down off of her bunk. Standing on the floor for a few seconds, Luna said nothing. However, she soon sat down on Luan's bunk, and patted an area next to her, with Rita took as an invitation to sit down next to her.

"Mom, I…" Luna began after Rita sat down next to her on her right, "…I tried to make things right with Lincoln, to apologize to him for my part in how we treated him like what Charles leaves behind on the living room carpet." Drawing her legs close to her chest so that she was in something of a fetal position, Luna continued as a tear ran down the right side of her face, "But he rejected my apology."

"Your younger brother rejected your attempt to apologize to him?" Rita replied, shocked to hear what her fifteen-year-old daughter had just said.

"I…I have no idea w-what I did wrong, m-mom," Luna said as she began to cry in earnest, her crying making her stammer somewhat, "I thought that L-Lincoln would totally l-love it if I gave a p-p-performance in the garage w-with my band. I even h-had Lincoln's favorite s-song from SMOOCH l-lined up."

Sighing in an unsure tone, Rita said, "Luna, I just don't know what to tell you. I'm not sure if you had simply caught your younger brother at a bad time or if something in your attempt to try to make amends with him rubbed him the wrong way." Placing both of her hands down on Luna's shoulders to get Luna's full attention on her, Rita continued in a reassuring tone, "But just because your first go at trying to make amends with Lincoln failed doesn't mean you should give up trying to make amends with him at all. Remember that your brother doesn't hate you."

Sniffling a bit, Luna replied, "T-then why do I f-feel like Lincoln does h-hate me?"

"You're just upset that your brother is still mad at you," Rita explained, "I'm sure he'll come to forgive you eventually." Standing up, Rita said, "Anywho, dinner is about ready. You ought to come on down and get something to eat."

"I'm not hungry," Luna replied in a dejected tone as she proceeded to climb back onto her bunk so she could resume crying into her pillow. Rita wished that her daughter would come down and eat dinner, but she knew better than to try and force the matter. Besides, Lincoln was down there, so Rita figured having Lincoln and Luna in the same room while he was still steamed at his older sister may not be the best idea in the world right now.

"…Alright, sweetie," Rita remarked, "But at least get something to eat before everyone goes to bed for the night, alright?"

"Mmm," Luna replied, her tone clearly indicating that she was still upset. Figuring that it was best to leave Luna alone, Rita took her leave, sincerely hoping that her fifteen-year-old daughter would get better soon.

* * *

The following afternoon, Luna, along with Lori and Leni, were sitting in the dining room of their family's house, discussing Luna's failed attempt to reconcile with Lincoln. The three oldest Loud girls were not alone either; Lori and Leni had respectively invited Bobby Santiago and Aggro Ace, the latter having the bokken carrying case that held Morning Sun over his back, figuring that the two seventeen-year-old boys would be able to help, especially since Lincoln had admitted that he viewed both Bobby and Aggro as older brother figures.

In a similar manner to Lori and Leni having invited their respective love interests over, Luna had invited Sam over. However, unlike Lori and Leni having invited Bobby and Aggro over to fill mentor roles for Lincoln, Luna invited Sam over more or less to give her emotional support for what the six teens were going to do once Lincoln came back. As always, Lori, Leni and Luna were careful not to say anything that people outside of their family wasn't supposed to know.

"Wait a minute," Bobby interrupted as he addressed Luna, his tone clearly indicating that he was quite shocked, "The bro actually rejected your apology, Luna?" After the musically inclined Loud sister nodded somberly in the affirmative, Bobby said, "Dude, that totally doesn't sound like Lincoln at all. You must have _really_ rubbed Lincoln the wrong way if he actually rejected your apology."

"You mentioned that Lincoln handed Luna a note before she, Sam and that Chunk fellow were able to start the first song that they had planned, correct?" Aggro asked as he turned to regard Lori and Leni, "Do you still have the note? Because if so, I would like to see it." Nodding in the affirmative, Lori reached into a back pocket on her shorts, pulled out a small sheet of folded paper, and handed it to Aggro, who unfolded it so he could read what was written. As Aggro's eyes scanned the brief missive, his expression grew grim.

"…I guess that my assessment from yesterday had more weight than I thought," the male Ace twin remarked.

"What do you mean?" Leni asked, getting Aggro to look up from the note and face her.

"Yesterday, Luna wandered in the part of the neighborhood where my family and I live," Aggro began to explain, "I had at that moment just arrived home from the store after picking up a few things to help my little sister Astrid feel better since she was sick, so I saw Luna randomly show up. I could tell she had a lot on her mind, and since you and all of your siblings are friends with me and mine, I invited her over to tell me what was on her mind."

"Go on," Lori said, wanting to hear more of where this was leading.

"After Luna told me about how she felt horrible about being the only one among her and her sisters to have not been forgiven yet," Aggro said, "I told her about the time when Lincoln-kun confided in Bobby and I about a nightmare that he had shortly before he and Bobby's little sister Ronnie Anne went to a birthday party that one of Ronnie Anne's friends was having."

"Oh yeah, I remember Lincoln waking up screaming in the middle of the night because of that nightmare," Lori remarked, "The one where he chased down and killed someone."

"Yeah, I remember the bro telling Aggro and I about that nightmare," Bobby said in a somber tone. Looking to the three oldest Loud girls, Bobby continued, "Did Lincoln tell you that the person that he killed in that nightmare that he had was Luna?" The shocked looks on the faces of Lori and Leni, and Sam to a lesser extent, was all the answer the Santiago teen needed.

"It…it was Luna that Linky killed in that nightmare?" Leni asked, shocked and a little sad to hear this development.

"From what I figure," Aggro said as he began to explain, "The reason why it was Luna who Lincoln-kun killed in that nightmare he had was because out of all ten of you girls, he was hurt the most by Luna's actions, or rather lack thereof, back when your four sisters who were directly responsible for driving him to the point that he ran away were making things terrible for him."

"Lincoln…" Lori said slowly, "…Was hurt the most by Luna?" This drew an affirmative nod from the male Ace twin.

"Yo Aggro, dude," Bobby said, getting Aggro's attention in the process, "You think the that the bro rejected Luna's apology because he feels betrayed or something?"

"I do," Aggro replied in the affirmative, "And such a betrayal-"

"Bobby? Aggro-sensei?" Lincoln's voice called out, cutting Aggro off midsentence and prompting him, Bobby, Sam, Lori, Leni and Luna to all look over and see Lincoln standing in the doorway that led into the dining room. "What are you guys doing here?" Lincoln asked as he walked into the dining room.

"Lori and your other sisters here invited us over, bro," Bobby explained in a sympathetic tone, "They feel like you need someone to talk to."

"We were also talking about how you rejected Luna's attempt to apologize to you," Sam remarked, a hint of annoyance in her tone, "Seriously, little dude. What the heck is wrong with you? Do you know how much doing that hurt Luna?"

Giving Sam a wry look, Lincoln retorted, "Does _Luna_ know how much she's hurt _me_?" Walking into the dining room, Lincoln took a seat on the same side of the table where Bobby and Aggro sat; in fact, since Lincoln was seated next to Aggro on the male Ace twin's left, this put the sole Loud boy as far from where Luna sat as possible while still being next to someone else that was sitting at the table. "…Seeing as how part of this discussion is covering why Luna expecting me to forgive her yesterday pissed me off so much, I figure that I should join in," Lincoln remarked in a bitter tone, the scowling expression on his face matching his tone.

" _Expecting_ you?" Luna repeated, sounding surprised and a little shocked, "What do you mean _expecting_ you?!" This elicited a bitter glare from her white-haired little brother.

"You wanted me to see what you were up to in the garage," Lincoln began, "And when I check it out, I find you, acting like nothing was wrong, that everything was all peachy keen, setting up for a performance you said was to make me feel better about what had happened." As Lincoln's glare intensified a little, he continued, "But I could tell full well that you were doing your thing more for yourself than you were for me."

"Then what about when Luan did that stand-up thing a while ago?" Luna asked, her temper starting to flare just a bit.

"There's a few differences between what Luan did and what you tried to do," Lincoln replied bitterly, "Luan clearly wasn't trying to get me to accept her again seeing as how she didn't exclusively invite me to watch her perform, but rather she invited _all of us_ to watch her try that stand-up bit she did. Luan wanted _everyone_ to feel better, not just herself." Leaning back in his seat, Lincoln continued as he crossed his arms over his chest, "Frankly, I think that's a huge step up from when Luan used to pull those April Fool's level pranks. By the way, Luan agreed to not pull those kinds of pranks anymore."

"Oh, thank goodness!" Lori exclaimed, sounding immensely relieved.

"I still don't see why you rejected my attempt to apologize to you, Lincoln," Luna remarked, her own tone starting to sound a little bitter.

His glare at Luna narrowing a bit, Lincoln said in the same bitter tone that he's been using so far, "Tell me, Luna. Do you remember the time you blasted me with a guitar riff from one of your large speakers, causing me to get thrown into the wall in the hallway outside of your room?"

"Umm…" Luna replied, her bitterness starting to melt away and being replaced with mild concern and worry as her little brother proceeded with his rant.

"Or how about the time where some of your equipment damaged Luan's dummy," Lincoln continued, his temper slowly building, "And after she made the perfectly reasonable request to have you pay for the damages, when I suggested that you should pay for the damages, you shook a fist at me in a threatening manner?"

"Dude, you threatened your brother?" Bobby said to Luna, clearly shocked and a little offended.

"Actually, Boo-Boo Bear," Lori interjected in a mildly cautious tone, "Luna was on her time of the month when she did that. She always gets a little temperamental like that towards most of us when she's going through...umm, _that_."

"Pfft, whatever," Aggro remarked in a snarl as he crossed his arms over his chest, interrupting Lori in the process as what she was saying clearly pissed him off.

"…Aggro?" Leni said in a concerned tone, worried that something had been done to offend her crush.

"...I'll explain later," Aggro replied as his temper started to simmer down, "But for now, we ought to let Lincoln-kun speak his mind."

"Thank you, Aggro-sensei," Lincoln remarked. Turning back to face Luna, Lincoln said, "And let's not forget where you blamed me for clogging the toilet with the Princess Pony book without having any proof."

"Hey wait, that was a group effort that the girls and I did," Luna pointed out, "And we even apologized for it and we threw you that party!"

"That still doesn't excuse the fact that you were clearly enjoying my misfortune back then!" Lincoln snapped as he slammed his fist onto the surface of the table in front of him, making Luna, along with Lori, Leni and even Sam, recoil away out of shock. What really shocked the girls was that tears were starting to fall down the sides of Lincoln's face. "Luna, you were the absolute last person that I would ever expect to act in such a way towards me," Lincoln said as his tears continued to fall, "Do you know how much it hurt me to see you look so smugly at me after I took the fall for one of our sisters just because I didn't want her getting teased mercilessly by you and the rest of the girls?! Do you even care that your cheering about me getting grounded back then made me _cry myself to sleep that night_?!" Steadily losing his composure, Lincoln said, "Do you…do you know how b-badly your t-teasing me over the n-next few weeks a-afterwards made me…me…me…" Lincoln never got to finish that sentence, because he folded his arms over his place at the table, threw his face down over his arms, and began to cry at full blast.

The teens had no idea what to say about seeing the white-haired boy breaking down and crying like that. Sam felt uncomfortable, Bobby and Aggro both felt concerned about the eleven-year-old boy who viewed both of them as older brother figures; Bobby even got up and went over to sit in the chair on Lincoln's left, which put Lincoln in the middle between Bobby and Aggro so he could pat him on the back and try to reassure him and make him feel better.

As for the three oldest Loud girls, they all felt beyond guilty, as their little brother's break down made them realize the true extent of how badly their actions back during the incident where the toilet was clogged by that Princess Pony book made their only brother feel. Luna was especially regretful, because Lincoln just admitted that he never would have expected her to be so quick to get on his case especially without proof, how her smug attitude back then had hurt him, how her relishing in him getting grounded actually made him cry himself to sleep that night. Lincoln was never expecting Luna to betray him like that.

But she _did_.

"I'm sorry," Luna said, her voice starting to break in a way suggesting that she was upset, that she felt horrible, that she was about to cry. Lincoln looked up just in time to see Luna's shoulder shudder in the manner that conveyed that Luna was going to start to cry. "I'm so sorry, Lincoln," Luna reiterated as tears started to fall down the sides of her face, "I…I had no idea that…that what I did hurt you so much." Sniffling a bit, Luna added in her same sad tone, "No wonder you rejected my attempt to apologize the way you did. I totally had it coming."

"You're…still going to try to apologize to your brother," Sam said, "Right, babe?"

"Yeah, and did _all_ of you girls really give the bro that hard of a time over that whole thing with the Princess Pony book clogging the toilet?" Bobby asked in a mildly accusatory tone, "Because if that's true, then to be completely honest, that is one of the absolute worst things that I ever heard someone do to one of their siblings."

"When we found out the truth, my sisters and I did everything we could to make up for it," Lori assured her boyfriend, sounding as if she were worried that her Bobby Boo-Boo Bear was upset with her.

"Did you at least find out who really clogged the toilet so as to make them answer for what happened?" Bobby asked.

"I…I asked my sisters not to do that, Bobby," Lincoln said as he tried to calm down, prompting everyone to look at him, "Like I said, I was…I was worried that they'd tease the guilty party just as they had done to me. It's why I…I took the blame in the first place."

"Yeah, I know what Lincoln-kun is talking about," Aggro remarked to his Hispanic friend, "After Lori had asked him about that incident a short while ago back at the Burpin' Burger, Lincoln-kun asked to spend some time alone with me because he wanted to vent. He told me about the aforementioned incident with the Princess Pony book, and how badly the whole thing made him feel." Turning to regard Lincoln, Aggro said, "Are you going to be alright? I'd hate for my student to remain upset."

"I…I'm sure I'll feel better soon, Aggro-sensei," Lincoln replied.

Seeing that people at the table were still crying, Leni got up, left the dining room for a bit, then came back with two boxes of tissues. "This way, Linky and Luna don't have to fight over the tissues," Leni explained when Lori asked why she got two boxes of tissues as she handed one box to Lincoln and the other to Luna.

"Hey, Babe," Bobby began, his tone carrying a hint of seriousness. Instantly, Lori's full attention was on her Bobby Boo-Boo Bear.

"Yes, Bobby?" Lori asked, sounding completely attentive.

"Your sister Luna mentioned that you, her and the rest of your sisters threw a party for Lincoln to make it up to him for the whole incident where your guys' toilet was clogged by that Princess Pony book," Bobby began. As the look that he was giving Lori became a bit more serious, Bobby asked, "What exactly did you all do at that party? I don't want you sparing any details." Over the next few minutes, Lori told Bobby all about the party that she and her sisters threw for Lincoln to make it up to him for the way that they treated him back when they thought that it was him who had clogged the toilet with the Princess Pony book.

"You guys got a tub of strawberry ice cream?" Sam remarked, "Dang, I wish I was there!"

"As much as I prefer strawberry ice cream over all other flavors of ice cream, that was not our party to go to, Sam," Aggro remarked as he gave the girl with a blue hair streak a serious look.

"Aggro's right, dude," Bobby remarked to Sam. Turning back to face the Loud girls, Bobby continued, "But seriously. I have to admit that you all threw Lincoln one hell of a party to make up for all of the crap that you all gave him when he took the fall for whoever really clogged the toilet. I'm glad to see that you all took responsibility for that stunt that you pulled."

"I know what we did to Lincoln was literally stupid, Bobby," Lori remarked in a guilty tone, "I still feel terrible about it."

"…That shows that you really care about Lincoln," Bobby remarked, the neutral scowl on his face having morphed into a small smile, "I'm glad to see that you really got the bro's best interests in mind after all."

"Thanks, Boo-Boo Bear," Lori replied.

"You still have to treat Lincoln to ice cream at the nearby Frozen King, though," Bobby stated, "Also, I'm coming along.

"…Huh?" Lori said, clearly surprised but in a confused way.

"I'm sorry, but I have to see you actively do something really nice for Lincoln to make things up to him for your role in what happened during the incident where your family's toilet was clogged by that Princess Pony book," Bobby explained, "And after ice cream at Frozen King, we're going to take the bro to see a movie of his choice at the theater." Giving Lori a slightly relaxed look, Bobby added, "Don't worry, Babe. If it comes down to it, I'll help you cover the costs."

Surprisingly, Lori was actually laughing because of what her boyfriend was saying. "Alright, alright, Bobby Boo-Boo Bear," Lori replied as she tried to simmer her laughter down, "We'll take Lincoln out with us."

"You might what to get yourself straightened out a bit first, Lincoln," Bobby advised the white-haired boy.

"R-right," Lincoln said before he blew his nose on a tissue.

* * *

Later that evening, Luna was sitting up in her and Luan's room. After the meeting that she and the other teens had, the musically inclined Loud sibling had a lot to think about. She thought about how Lincoln rejected her big apology from yesterday, about how Lincoln chewed her out during the aforementioned teen meeting over some of her past offences towards him. How he broke down in tears while admitting that her role in hurting him did a hell of a lot more than he had let on.

Lincoln cried himself to sleep the night he took the blame for the incident where the toilet was clogged by that Princess Pony book, and all Luna did was _laugh_ at his misfortune.

As Luna absentmindedly fiddled around with her guitar, she heard someone knocking on the doorframe of the open bedroom door. Looking up from her guitar over to the doorway, Luna saw Lincoln standing there. "…Hey, Luna," Lincoln began in a gloomy, almost sad tone.

"Oh, 'sup Lincoln," Luna replied, her tone somewhat similar to the one Lincoln was using.

"Is…is it alright if I come in?" Lincoln asked, as if he feared that Luna would tell him no. The musically inclined Loud sibling could tell from her little brother's tone that he felt particularly vulnerable right now; Luna knew that if she wasn't careful, she might make Lincoln upset, causing him to leave with his spirits dashed.

It wouldn't have been the first time that Luna did that to her little brother.

Reaching over to something that was behind her, Luna pulled up a small stool, the kind people playing a drum set would sit on as they sat at the drums, and placed it next to her. "No problem, Lincoln," Luna replied gently, her voice lacking any trace of its usual radicalness. Gently patting the extra stool, Luna said, "Come on, lil' bro, take a seat." Slowly, Lincoln walked in and sat down in the stool Luna provided him with. "So, what's up?" Luna asked.

"I…" Lincoln began, but he stopped, sighed in a resigned tone, then continued, "…I wanted to apologize to you."

"Wait a minute," Luna said in a genuinely confused tone, " _You_ want to apologize to _me_? Lincoln, what do you have to apologize for?"

"I made you cry earlier today," the sole loud boy replied, sounding regretful.

"Lincoln…" Luna remarked in a sympathetic tone. Reaching over to lay a hand on Lincoln's shoulder, Luna said, "You don't have to apologize for that, lil' bro. I had that coming." Sighing, Luna continued, "I have any and all of your resentment towards me coming. What I did back when we all thought you were bad luck was inexcusable. And that's not all." Taking a steadying breath, Luna went on, "The time where I blasted you with a riff from my speakers, the time where I threatened you because you suggested that I pay for the damages my fog machines did to Luan's dummy, the…" Stopping midsentence to choke back some tears, Luna said, "The way how I acted towards you back when you took the fall for clogging the toilet with that Princess Pony book. And let's not forget the one time when I attacked you in my bid to get the sweet spot for that road trip."

"Actually, you, me and the girls all fought each other equally over that," Lincoln pointed out, "It wasn't exclusively you beating down on me. Otherwise, I would have brought it up earlier when I was breaking down."

"…I was wondering why you weren't holding that against me," Luna remarked. Giving her little brother a curious look that still carried a hint of sadness, Luna said, "You know, Lincoln, it never ceases to amaze me that even if you aren't at fault, you try to make things right anyway."

"Not at fault?" Lincoln repeated, sounding confused.

Giving a gentle nod in the affirmative, Luna explained, "It's like I said, you don't have to apologize for making me cry earlier. I had it coming for being such a daft bird."

"…I still feel bad about it," Lincoln said.

Chuckling a bit, Luna said as she gently patted Lincoln on the back, "And that's part of the reason why you're such a great kid, Lincoln. You care a lot about others. Maybe a bit too much for your own good."

"Mmm," Lincoln hummed in response, still sounding a little upset. Luna could tell that Lincoln was still troubled, so she picked her guitar back up after she had set it down to move the stool for Lincoln to sit on.

"…I know a little ditty that I'm sure will cheer you up, Lincoln," Luna began in a gentle tone, "So turn that-"

"Please, don't," Lincoln interrupted, his tone still upset, but having a certain gentleness to it.

"…What do you mean?" Luna asked, curious much more than anything else.

"Can we…can we just sit here?" Lincoln asked, "No music, no nothing, just…" To help clarify what he was talking about, Lincoln reached over and gently threw his arms around Luna, drawing her into a hug. Luna, with her expression softening, gently got her guitar out from between her and Lincoln, sat it back down on the stand that she had it sitting on, then she gently threw her own arms around Lincoln so she could proceed to return the hug.

Lincoln and Luna just sat like that for a while. Eventually, and to Luna's mild surprise, Lincoln ended up falling asleep while they were hugging. Smiling gently, Luna gathered Lincoln up and, not wanting to risk waking him up by having to carry him all the way to his bedroom then having to open his door, she simply carried him over to the bunk bed and deposited the sleeping Lincoln on Luan's bunk; trying to lift Lincoln up to her bunk was just too risky, and Luna was afraid that she might drop him if she tried that.

Seeing Lincoln sleep away on the bottom bunk like that, Luna could not help but smile. Even if she still wasn't his sister yet, Luna felt that Lincoln was her brother, and she would not let anything disturb him as he was trying to sleep. Besides which, he looked just adorable sleeping like that.

Luna wondered if she'd be able to find a camera before Lincoln woke up. She wanted to take a picture of this.

* * *

The following day, Rita was in the dining room as she, the five oldest Loud sisters and Lincoln were having breakfast, although breakfast for some of the older Loud sisters consisted of just a mug of coffee. "Oh, Lincoln," Rita began, "Your father said that it's take your child to work day over at Aloha Comrade, and he wants to know if you'd like to come along."

"I'm sorry," Lincoln began as he sat his glass of orange juice down, "My what?"

"Your…father," Rita replied, realizing that she might have unintentionally triggered some unpleasant feelings in her only son.

"Sorry," Lincoln continued, "But the only family that I'm aware that I have is a mother, ten sisters, a grandfather, a grandaunt, a dog, a cat, a bird and a hamster." Picking up his glass of juice, Lincoln drained it before setting it back down and continuing, "But if today is take your child to work day over where Mr. Loud works, then I won't stop anyone who wants to go with him. I just hope they don't mind Hawaiian and Russian food."

"Right," Rita replied, sounding a bit remorseful, "Umm…it's also take your child to work day over at the dentist office where I work. I don't suppose you'd like to have another look at what I do to help keep a roof over our heads, would you?" Turning to look at Rita, Lincoln saw that she knew she made a mistake by referring to Lynn Sr. as his dad, and she was worried that she might have made her only son upset. Sighing in a knowing manner, Lincoln gave his mother a small but gentle smile.

"Sure thing, mom," Lincoln replied, "I'll just have to get my socks and shoes on first."

"Alright, sweetie," Rita said as she got up with her now clean dished. After depositing the dishes in the sink, Rita turned and walked out of the dining room through the doorway that led to the living room. Lincoln's own glass was empty, so he got up and put his glass in the sink. However, right when he turned around, Lincoln was surprised when Luna, who was on one knee so that she'd be at Lincoln's level, threw her arms around him and drew him into a hug. With the way the hug was happening, Luna was turned facing away from Lynn, Luan, Leni and Lori, although the sole Loud boy saw the other four oldest Loud girls.

"Umm…what?" Lincoln said, looking mildly confused.

"Lincoln," Lori began in a mildly shocked tone, "How many sisters did you say you have again?" It was then that Lincoln knew why Luna was hugging him like this, why Lori and the other girls that were present at the time looked at him with shocked expressions. Smiling gently, Lincoln proceeded to return the hug.

"…Ten," Lincoln replied in a knowing tone, "I have ten sisters."

Ten sisters that Lincoln wouldn't trade for the world.

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Author's notes:

And there…we…go. Lincoln has just finished reconciling with all of his sisters. Anyway, the next chapter will see me adapt the events of the tenth one-shot from that collection of one-shots that I keep bringing up to this story's setting. It will also feature the return of someone from Lincoln's past who he was not counting on seeing. …Do you know who it's going to be?


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image

Chapter twenty-three: Punk, Britannia

Lincoln Loud woke up in his bedroom (actually just a converted linin closet) at the Loud family residence one morning in Royal Woods, Michigan. Stretching his arms as he sat up in bed, Lincoln proceeded to hop out of bed and leave his bedroom. Once in the hallway, Lincoln saw to his surprise that there was very little traffic. …And by that, I mean only Luna, one of Lincoln's older sisters, stood outside of the bathroom door, clearly waiting for her turn to do what she was going to do.

"Morning, Luna," Lincoln said with a yawn as he approached his musically inclined older sister and the bathroom door. Hearing her little brother speak up, Luna turned around and saw him.

"Oh, hey, lil' bro," Luna greeted, "You sleep well?"

"Yeah, but I had this weird dream last night," Lincoln remarked. Upon hearing her little brother say that he had a dream the previous night, Luna became concerned.

"You…you didn't kill someone else in your dream last night, did you?" Luna asked, clearly looking concerned for her little brother.

"No, no," Lincoln began to clarify, understanding what his older sister was getting at, "I didn't say that I had a nightmare, I said that I had a weird dream."

"Oh," Luna replied, calming down visibly. With a mildly amused look on her face, Luna continued, "I bet it wasn't as weird as the dream that I had last night."

Lincoln looked up at his musically inclined older sister. Recently, Lincoln ran away from home, was gone for roughly two months, then was found and brought back home. Due to the nature of why Lincoln ran away, his entire family was remorseful, and all of them were working to at least try to makes things up to Lincoln. It was a rather slow process at first, but over time, Lincoln had come to forgive most of his family. Luna, who at the time was the only Loud girl that Lincoln had not yet acknowledged, was the one most recently accepted by the white-haired boy. Lincoln could tell that, seeing as how she had just returned to his good graces, that Luna was trying to be as friendly as possible, clearly not wanting to repeat what happened, and her trying to initiate small talk was part of that package.

Giving Luna a wry look of amusement, Lincoln remarked, "Try me."

"Heh, you're going to get a hoot out of this," Luna began, "So anywho, in my dream last night, Sam and I were gearing up to-"

Luna was cut off when the bathroom door opened, with Luna and Lincoln's older sister Lori stepping out. "Sorry about taking so long," Lori remarked, "But I literally had some facial business to take care of. It wouldn't do if I had a zit on my face right before my next date with my Boo-Boo Bear."

"Nah, there's nothing wrong with that," Luna replied as she moved to use the bathroom. To Lincoln, Luna remarked, "I'll fill you in on the rest of the dream later during breakfast." After Luna closed the door to the bathroom behind her, Lori turned to face her little brother.

"What did she mean by that part?" Lori asked.

"Oh, Luna was trying to tell me about some weird dream she had last night after I told her that I myself also had a weird dream, and she bet that hers was weirder than mine," Lincoln explained.

Crossing her arms over her chest, Lori replied with an amused smirk on her face, "I bet that the dream I had last night is literally weirder that yours and Luna's combined."

* * *

Later that day, Lincoln, along with his older sister Lynn, accompanied their mother Rita to greet some new neighbors in their neighborhood. "I wonder what kind of kids just showed up," Lynn remarked aloud, then continued when she turned to face Lincoln, "Do you think that they'd be interested in playing sports?"

"Assuming that the people who did move in have any kids in our general age group," Lincoln replied, "You can't say for certain, Lynn."

"Aww, come on, little bro," Lynn replied, "Don't be like that."

"Now Lynn," Rita, who was carrying a Tupperware dish of some homemade food, said to her athletic daughter, "Your brother has a point. There's no saying for certain that-" Rita stopped short when, as she and her kids that were with her turned the corner and saw the house that was being moved into, that there was a girl that looked to be roughly the same age as Lynn standing in the front yard, among the various boxed and furniture. Lincoln also saw this girl, and when he did, a few alarms immediately went off in his head.

The girl had fair skin and long yellow-blonde hair with streaks of colors in it, obviously there to give the girl a punk look. She wore a baggy hooded jacket that looked like the Union Jack, baggy jeans with torn knees, and large sneakers. At the time he and his family saw the girl, she was fishing something out of one of the front pockets of her Union Jack hoodie. The girl hadn't seen Lincoln yet, but he had a very good reason to fear that she'd somehow recognize him.

This girl was the same British punk girl that, back when Lincoln was under the guise of Broken Mirror in the city that he ran away to, had stumbled upon him having killed two gang members in order to save Ronnie Anne from being forced into joining said gang. Lincoln even saw that the British punk girl was wearing the ring that he gave her, after he, at her request, salvaged the ring off of one of the gang members that he killed. It was on one of her fingers on the hand that was holding the lollipop that she had taken out of the pocket of her Union Jack hoodie.

"…Huh," Rita remarked, unknowingly snapping Lincoln out of his thoughts in the process, "I guess you were right after all, Lynn." Back to reality, Lincoln proceeded to follow his mother and older sister over to the house that was being moved into. "Excuse me, young lady!" Rita called out, prompting the punk British girl to turn and see Rita approach with Lincoln and Lynn.

Seeing Rita, Lincoln and Lynn walking over to her, the punk British girl waved a hand in a gesture of greeting. "Top of the morning to you!" the punk British girl called out as Rita, Lincoln and Lynn came walking up, "The name's Mitzie Cornwell. I take it you'd like to speak with me mum, right?"

"That would be nice, yes," Rita replied, "Where can I find her?"

"She should be inside, luv," Mitzie replied as she pointed to the house her family was moving into, "Why not give the door a knock?"

Nodding in understanding, Rita went to go try and speak with Mitzie's mother, leaving Lincoln and Lynn behind. "You know," Lynn said as she began trying to make conversation with Mitzie, "You sound a lot like me and Lincoln's older sister Luna."

"Is she one of those Yanks who likes to pretend she's a Brit?" Mitzie asked.

"Ehh," Lynn said as she made the so-so gesture with her right hand, "It's mostly because her favorite musician is British. You ever heard of Mick Swagger?"

"Shortly before me family moved here from the other side of the pond," Mitzie began, "Me old man got himself in a bit of a pickle at a Mick Swagger concert in London."

"What happened?" Lynn asked.

"He got into a fight with a really fat woman and got arrested," Mitzie replied, "Although to be fair, the fat woman got arrested too, given that she started it."

"So…" Lincoln began, a mild hint of trepidation (that went by unnoticed by the two girls) in his tone, "…Your family moved from England to Royal Woods?"

"We actually moved from England to some city in the next state over," Mitzie clarified, "We moved here from that city to Royal Woods because me old man got a really nice job." Yeah, Lincoln figured as much. He already knew that this girl didn't move to Royal Woods straight from England, but he was hoping that if he played dumb, then this punk British girl, apparently named Mitzie, would fail to recognize him. She certainly hasn't said anything so far.

"Well if you got any questions, feel free to hit my family up," Lynn said, "We'll be glad to give you a hand."

Smiling, Mitzie said, "Glad to hear it, luv. Oh, I don't suppose I can get the names of the both of you, can I?"

"Oh, I'm Lynn Loud, and this is my younger brother Lincoln," Lynn said as she introduced herself and Lincoln, "That was our mom Rita who was asking for your parents."

"Nice to meet you, Lynn and Lincoln," Mitzie replied, "I'm looking forward to life here in Royal Woods."

"Yeah," Lincoln remarked, "It's…pretty great here in Royal Woods."

"I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what this place has to offer," Mitzie said with a nod. Shortly after Lincoln, Lynn and Mitzie had exchanged each other's names, Rita came walking back over.

"Lynn, Lincoln, it's time to get going," Rita said. The three members of the Loud family took their leave, with Lynn and Lincoln waving good-bye to Mitzie.

As Lincoln walked back with Lynn and Rita, Rita asked, "So, were you two trying to make friends with the new girl?"

"Yeah, mom," Lynn replied, "Her name was Mitzie, and her family moved from England to some city in the next state over, and they moved from that city to here in Royal Woods."

"Oh yes," Rita remarked, "The Cornwells moved to the United States from England. I bet that your father will be interested in hearing about that, given that he studied for a semester over in England."

"I bet Luna might also get a kick out of it," Lynn said, "She likes speaking in a British accent sometimes, remember?" As Lynn and Rita continued with their conversation, Lincoln allowed his mind to wander. Wander to concerns about someone from his violent past in the city that he ran away to suddenly showing up again.

He hoped that things won't end badly for him.

* * *

The following day, Lynn had invited Mitzie over, and while there, Mitzie got a first-hand account of how…creative…Lynn's family can be at times. The punk British girl was also formally introduced to all of Lynn's siblings, minus Luan and Lucy because they were both out at the time, but Lynn said that they should be back before long. As a side note, Mitzie and Luna both got a hoot out of meeting each other; Mitzie even thought that Luna's practiced British accent sounded more authentic than some of the actual accents she heard back in England.

"I've got to say, luv," Mitzie said to Lynn, "You got yourself a fine family here. But I only counted eight siblings."

"Yeah, Luan and Lucy are out at the moment," Lynn replied, "I'm not sure where they-"

"THAT SWINDLER!" Luan's voice exclaimed from the area of the front door, prompting Lynn, Mitzie, and everyone else in the house to investigate. Upon arriving, the other Loud siblings and Mitzie all saw that Luan and Lucy had returned from wherever they both went off to.

"What's going on, girls?" Lori asked.

"It's Flip," Lucy explained in a far calmer tone that what Luan was currently using, "He's at his old tricks again."

"I'm guessing that he ripped off either you or Luan?" Lincoln asked in a knowing tone.

"Actually, neither of us were ripped off by Flip," Lucy explained, "But we did witness Flip cheating Benny out of his change, so Luan's pretty livid right now." Shaking her head, Lucy continued, "How is that man still in business? I would have imagined that his shady business practices would have been made public knowledge by now."

"…Umm, you lot are going to have to fill me in on this," Mitzie said to the Loud siblings as a whole, "Who is this Flip person?"

"He's a local business owner who runs a gas station slash convenience store," Lori explained, "Flip is also something of a swindler, and is incredibly cheap to boot."

"So, I take it he not all that well received around these parts," Mitzie reasoned.

"Exactly," Lincoln replied; although he was still somewhat hesitant around Mitzie due to him having encountered her back when he was a runaway and was under the guise of Broken Mirror, Lincoln still would not wish being cheated by Flip upon the punk British girl. "Take my word for it," Lincoln added, "Doing business with Flip is not the best idea in the world."

"Alright, guv," Mitzie said with a nod in the affirmative, "Thanks for the warning. By the way, who's that Benny fellow you claimed was cheated by that Flip person?"

"A classmate of me and Luan's over at Royal Woods Middle School," Lynn explained, "Luan happens to have a crush on Benny, so you can imagine how much it bothers her that Benny was swindled by Flip."

"Hmm," Mitzie replied as she considered what she was just told, "You don't say." As the crowd of gathered siblings began to disperse, Lincoln saw a look of consideration on Mitzie's face. The white-haired boy had no idea what Mitzie was thinking, but Lincoln didn't think that she was connecting dots that he hoped would never be connected.

* * *

Later that evening, sometime before dinner, Lynn heard that Mitzie needed to be taken to the hospital because of some food poisoning she got when eating one of the hot dogs from the hot dog rack at Flip's Food and Fuel. When Lynn got back home with Rita after visiting Mitzie at Royal Woods General, Lynn told all of her siblings quite the tale; apparently, Mitzie did not like hearing how Flip was being a swindler, so she decided that she would teach him a lesson via exposing his questionable business practices, which included selling expired products such as expired hot dogs.

Mitzie only told this to Lynn; when police asked her about it at the hospital, Mitzie said that she had no idea that she had bought a hot dog that went bad until she started throwing up and having to make mad dashes to the restroom, and that was _before_ the ambulance showed up to take her to Royal Woods General. To say that the Loud siblings, Luan especially, were happy to hear that Flip would be getting into so much trouble for all of this would be an understatement.

The day after Mitzie got out of the hospital, Lynn was hanging out with her, laughing out of amusement over the British girl's daring. Mitzie was also wearing a completely different outfit than the one she showed up in when her family moved to Royal Woods; the British girl had done away with the colored streak that was in her hair, going for full yellow-blonde, and had styled her hair into two side curly pigtails that reached halfway down her torso. Mitzie also wore a white long-sleeved shirt under a light gray sweater-vest, a plaid skirt that reached close to halfway down her legs, and socks that came up to about an inch under her knees. Mitzie also had a pair of brown shoes.

"Dude!" Lynn laughed as she and Mitzie drank cans of soda, "I can't believe you ate one of the hot dogs that was cooking in the hot dog cooker over at Flip's! Even my little sister Lana wouldn't eat one of those hot dogs, and she's recently developed a taste for peanut butter and sauerkraut sandwiches! You're crazy!"

"Well that disgusting bloke was crazy for thinking it was a right proper idea to sell expired products to unwitting customers," Mitzie replied. After draining the last of her can of soda, Mitzie said, "But seriously, luv, back to what I was originally asking you." Gesturing to herself as a whole, the British girl asked, "What do you think of me new look?"

"You look like you could pass for a student at that fictional school for British kids who are wizards," Lynn remarked.

Laughing in a good-natured tone, Mitzie gave her new friend a playful push against her shoulder while saying, "Oh, shut up!" The two girls then proceeded to share a laugh, as a bright friendship started to form between the two of them. The two girls proceeded to spend the rest of the day together, enjoying hanging out with one another, and their friendship overall.

* * *

The following day, Lynn had Mitzie and Ulfric over; Lynn figured that Mitzie might be good to join one of the many sports teams that she (Lynn) belongs to, and she was testing Mitzie to see which sport might be her cup of tea. As Lynn and her crush were training with Mitzie, Lincoln was watching from the back patio. "…This is football?" Mitzie said in a confused tone as Lynn held up a football.

"Yeah," Lynn replied, "Why do you ask?"

"This isn't the kind of football that I'm used to from my side of the pond," Mitzie remarked.

Sighing in a frustrated tone, Lynn explained, "Well here in the states, that version of football is called soccer." Gesturing to the football that she held, Lynn said, " _This_ is what we call football over here."

"Uhh huh," Mitzie remarked as she, Lynn and Ulfric began to work around a little bit. As the three thirteen-year-olds threw the pigskin around, Mitzie remarked, "Hey mates, you know something that really annoys me? Yanks who pretend to be brits but are bad at it."

"Yeah, sorry if my dad trying to talk like he's from England yesterday when you came over offended you," Lynn replied in a mildly apologetic tone, "You know, I'm surprised that my sister Luna using her British accent doesn't offend you."

"That's because she isn't bad at it," Mitzie explained, drawing a bit of a chuckle from the sporty Loud sibling. As the playing went on, the British girl said, "Did you blokes hear about what was going on in the city that I moved here from? About how that violent cape Broken Mirror was nailing the hide of that local gang to the side of a barn?" As soon as Mitzie said that last part, Lincoln's heart immediately skipped a beat.

"Yeah, what about it?" Lynn asked casually.

"Did you know that I actually encountered Broken Mirror?" Mitzie continued, and when she said that, both Lynn and Ulfric stopped what they were doing.

"You…you actually encountered a dangerous vigilante?" Lynn asked.

Nodding once in the affirmative, Mitzie explained, "Look, luv, here's the deal. Back when I was living in that city, I was something of a punk, as you should have undoubtedly been able to tell from how I outfitted meself before I changed. Anywho, the local gang found me, and they were trying to recruit me. They made me a tempting offer, but I had doubts about wanting to actually join the gang."

"Did you tell them that you didn't want to join?" Ulfric asked.

Shaking her head in the negative a bit, Mitzie explained, "I never got a chance to. The two blokes I was set to meet about that business were lying dead on the floor of the abandoned building that I was going to meet them in. They were killed by that Broken Mirror fellow, who from what I remember about finding him was trying to let a Hispanic girl go."

"…Huh, that actually reminds me about this one story my older sister Lori told me," Lynn remarked, "You see Mitzie, Lori has a boyfriend named Bobby, and Bobby's family, the Santiagos, were set to move to the city that your family moved here from, as they have relatives living over there. Anywho, Bobby has a younger sister named Ronnie Anne, and from what I heard, while Ronnie Anne was in that city, the local gang was trying to force her to join. The reason why I bring all of this up is because Bobby, Ronnie Anne and their folks are Hispanic."

"Hmm…" Mitzie began, "…You think that this Ronnie Anne girl might be that same girl that I saw Broken Mirror save from being forced to join the gang?"

"She might even recognize you if you talk to her," Lynn remarked, "Although it might be good to switch back to your old look. That was the look that you had going when you and Ronnie Anne saw each other back then, right?"

"Right you are, Lynn," Mitzie replied, pointing a commending finger at the sporty Loud sibling, "So then, if we are to pursue this, we need to find that Ronnie Anne girl. Did she really move to the next state over?"

"No," Lincoln replied, him having spoken up causing the three thirteen-year-olds to turn to regard him. "…From what I heard from Lori while she was talking on the phone to Bobby," Lincoln began to explain, "Mrs. Santiago decided not to move her, Bobby and Ronnie Anne to that city because she thought that it was too dangerous, and she doesn't want Bobby or especially Ronnie Anne exposed to a place like that." With a look of consideration appearing on his face, Lincoln added, "Also, Lori recently heard from Bobby that the city in question is now having issues of racial tension aimed at people of Hispanic heritage."

"Oh yeah, he's got a point about that last part, mates," Mitzie said to Lynn and Ulfric while pointing to Lincoln, "Some of the blokes over in that city are flipping their lids over how the city's being run, and they're taking it out on others of a different race."

"Well that bites," Lynn remarked, "But anywho, we ought to go see if Ronnie Anne will recognize you. Come on." Lynn then proceeded to lead her friends into the house, with Lincoln following along, hoping that things wouldn't lead back to him.

* * *

By an incredible stroke of luck, Lincoln's past as Broken Mirror was _not_ exposed. Seeing Mitzie in her original getup did surprise Ronnie Anne a little bit when Lynn, Ulfric and Lincoln brought Mitzie over, but the Hispanic girl confirmed that Mitzie wasn't really trying to pull anything, and she peacefully left when she received the ring from the gang member that said ring was salvaged from. But neither Ronnie Anne or Mitzie were able to piece together all of the coincidences. Even Lynn and Ulfric, both of which were present and thus heard both sides of the tale, did not suspect that it was Lincoln, while he lived as a runaway in that city, who was Broken Mirror.

After their time at the Santiagos' place, Lynn, Lincoln, Mitzie and Ulfric took their leave, with Mitzie and Ulfric parting from the group so they could head back to their respective places. This left Lincoln and Lynn alone to walk back to where they lived. "…Hey Lynn," Lincoln began in a mildly hesitant tone, catching his older sister's attention.

"What's up, Lincoln?" Lynn asked.

"If…if there was someone dangerous like that he-" Lincoln began, but Lynn cut him off.

"If he came anywhere near you, I'd do to him what he did to those gang members," Lynn said in a firm, confident tone, "No one even comes close to any of my siblings with the intent to hurt them so long as I'm around."

"…Well Mitzie did say that the guy only went after members of the local gang," Lincoln pointed out as he continued in the same hesitant tone, "So I'm guessing that he won't even come near me unless I decided to join a gang, and I don't really see that happening."

"Heh, yeah," Lynn replied with a laugh, "I'm sorry Lincoln, but I just don't see you as gang member material. No offence, but you're kind of a dork."

"I know," Lincoln said, mildly annoyed to have been called a dork by his older sister.

Lynn noticed that change in tone, and knew that Lincoln felt bad about being insulted. "Aw relax, little bro." Throwing her arm around Lincoln, Lynn dragged him into a lock so she could playfully noogie the top of his head while saying, "As much of a dork as you are, you're still my little brother." After she let Lincoln go, Lynn wore a look of concern on her face. "And I…" Lynn continued as she began sounding concerned and a little worried, "…I don't want to risk ever losing that again."

Lincoln could tell what his athletic older sister was getting at; even though Lincoln had already forgiven Lynn for her (admittedly rather considerable) role in the whole bad luck incident from a while ago, Lynn still felt awful about what she did in the first place. Smiling sympathetically, Lincoln laid a hand on Lynn's shoulder, getting her attention.

"…Don't sweat it, Lynn," Lincoln replied, "You just need to keep a few things in mind. One, you can't win every last sports game that you take part in. Two, you need to take responsibility for your losses instead of blaming them on things such as luck. And three, in a family as big as ours, a lot of us have a lot of things that we want each other to go to, meaning that there will be some times that some of us can't go watch you at your games, whether it's because we're supporting another sister at one of her events, or we're stuck somewhere, or we've been to so many of our sister's events so often that week that we're just too tired to come."

"…Heh, yeah," Lynn remarked in an admitting tone. Giving her little brother a gentle pat on the back, Lynn continued, "You got a lot of good points there."

"So, I'm going to guess that now," Lincoln began, "If you want one of us to go to one of your sports games, if we just so happen to tell you no, you'll respect our choice?"

With a gentle smile, Lynn replied, "You know it, Lincoln."

Lincoln smiled back at his athletic older sister. "Glad to hear it," Lincoln said, right as the Loud family residence came into view for him and Lynn. Seeing that home was just a quick dash away, Lincoln and Lynn picked up the speed a little bit, both wanting to return home as soon as they could.

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Author's notes:

Although it came close, Lincoln's past was not blown. The disguise that he wore while operating in the city that he ran away to was really effective. Anywho, the next chapter will put Lynn and Lincoln in a situation similar to when Lynn coerced Lincoln into coming to her softball game. However, things are undoubtedly going to play out differently, given the lessons that Lynn has learned since that fateful morning.

Also, I would like to give a shout out to DJTimmer (I hope I got that right) for being the first to correctly guess who it was from Lincoln's past in the city he ran away to that would be showing up. Good job, man. You get a cookie.

To the person who thought that it was Sam that Lincoln ran into in the city, I'm sorry that you guessed wrong. Sam is fifteen, only has one colored streak in her hair, and wears a light blue leather jacket. Mitzie is thirteen, has multiple colored streaks in her hair (prior to changing her look) and wears a baggy hooded jacket (some sort of cloth, like cotton, I guess) that resembles the Union Jack (again, prior to Mitzie changing her look).


	24. Chapter 24

Pre-chapter author's notes: In response to overwhelming feedback, I have replaced the previous version of this chapter with this version of this chapter. Also, I am hereby declaring the previous version of this chapter non-canon/invalid/banished to the deepest pits of whatever realm you'd care to name/forget that it ever existed. Seriously. Although _some_ (not all) of the negativeness that I saw was uncalled for, I understand where it was all coming from, and I would like to offer my most sincere apologies to anyone who I offended. Hopefully, this newer version of this chapter will be more well received.

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image

Chapter twenty-four: Making Amends

Lynn Loud Sr. had just gotten back after a rather tiring day working at Aloha Comrade, one of the many fusion restaurants located in Royal Woods, Michigan. The Loud family patriarch considered himself lucky to not only have a job that allowed him to help support his (admittedly rather large) family, but one that revolved around his passion for cooking. Granted, Aloha Comrade wasn't looking too good right now; out of all of the fusion restaurants located in Royal Woods, Aloha Comrade was currently ranked as least popular.

Lynn Sr. even, at one point, allowed his competitiveness, his paranoia, to make him act out in a rather shameful manner. He didn't see his error until Lincoln, his only son out of eleven children, had called him out on it in one of the most heartbreaking ways that he (Lynn Sr.) could have imagined. Once he saw through the error of his ways, Lynn Sr. resolved to try and rectify things with the people he disappointed. To his credit, Lynn Sr. managed to make it up to his wife Rita and their ten daughters. The only person that the Loud patriarch has yet to set things right with is his son. But Lynn Sr.'s previous shameful behavior in regards to the fusion restaurant business is not the reason why Lincoln has yet to forgive him.

A while ago, Lynn Sr. and the rest of the Loud family had decried Lincoln as bad luck after a softball game that Lynn Jr. lost. Granted, Lincoln _did_ have some role in facilitating the belief that he was bad luck. However, Lincoln only did so because he otherwise would not have gotten the alone time he desperately needed to rest and recharge after having gone to so many of his sisters' various events; it was Lynn Sr., Rita and their daughters who took things way too far. Lincoln had already forgiven all of his sisters and his mother.

Hell, Lincoln has even forgiven the family pets; Lynn Sr. was admittedly a bit confused about why his son held some resentment towards the pets, but he later learned that they showed some hostility towards Lincoln as well, mainly Charles, the family dog, when he growled at Lincoln when the boy was forced at one point to sleep in the backyard.

The pets all had the excuse of acting out of an animal instinct, as opposed to the human members of the family, who had allowed superstition to make them abandon all logic and common sense. Abandoning all logic and common sense…that's _exactly_ what Lynn Sr. had done when, at the height of his competitiveness and paranoia over the fusion restaurant business in Royal Woods, he tried to forbid his children from hanging out with some friends of theirs, simply because the family of said friends owned the most popular fusion restaurant in Royal Woods.

"I'm home, Rita," Lynn Sr. called out as he entered the Loud family residence after getting back from work. A few seconds after Lynn Sr. called out, his three oldest daughters, Lori, Leni and Luna, along with their younger brother Lincoln, came walking out.

"Dad, did you forget that mom literally left on a trip to California earlier this morning?" Lori asked, shooting her father a mildly confused look.

"Oh yeah, that," Lynn Sr. replied in a tone that was two parts embarrassed and eight parts tired; earlier that day, sometime prior to Lynn Sr. leaving for work at Aloha Comrade, Rita got a ride from Harold and Howard McBride to the airport so she could fly out to Sacramento, California. A friend of Rita's who lives in Sacramento had a relative who just very recently passed away, and the friend asked Rita for help in managing the deceased relative's final affairs. Rita, who ended up bringing baby Lily with her because what sort of mother would not want to look after her baby daughter at all times, agreed to fly out to Sacramento to help the friend.

Sighing in a resigned and tired tone (mostly tired), Lynn Sr. said to his children, "Sorry, kids, but I had a really tiring day at work. It was actually surprisingly busy at Aloha Comrade today. The busiest we've been this season, in fact." Looking to his children, Lynn Sr. continued, "So, what have you kids been up to today?"

"We…actually went to Odin-Dono's earlier," Luna said in a mildly hesitant tone. The Loud family patriarch was able to pick up on his musically inclined daughter's hesitance right away, and he understood full well why Luna was hesitant, given how he acted in the past over the fusion restaurant business.

Sighing in a mildly resigned tone, Lynn Sr. said, "It alright, kids, I'm not upset. I've long since dropped the shameful behavior I had back then." Facing Leni specifically, Lynn Sr. continued, "Also, Leni, I want to properly apologize for trying to ground you out of paranoia."

"Apology accepted," Leni replied, a small but appreciative smile on her face.

"Did you kids at least have fun?" Lynn Sr. asked Lori, Leni, Luna and Lincoln as a whole.

"Yeah, although we didn't really go to Odin-Dono's to actually have lunch," Lori replied, "We went there in order to watch something."

"Watch something?" the Loud patriarch repeated in a confused tone.

Nodding in an affirmative manner, Luna explained, "Yeah, pops, Lynn told us that she was invited by Ulfric and his parents to have lunch with them. They ended up going to Odin-Dono's for lunch today, and when we heard that, Lori, Leni, Lincoln and I decided to go over as well to make sure things went smoothly and to make sure that Ulfric didn't break Lynn's heart like that little bastard Francisco did." Crossing her arms over her chest, Luna added, "I am glad to say that Lynn had one heck of a time, and Ulfric was nothing short of a cool dude to Lynn the whole time they were at Odin-Dono's."

"Oh, so Junior went to have lunch with that Ulfric boy and his parents," Lynn Sr. remarked. With a mildly curious look, Lynn Sr. continued, "Say, I don't suppose any of you know what kind of people Ulfric's parents are like, do you?"

"Oh, they're literally both really great people," Lori began, "I heard one of them say something to playfully tease both Lynn and Ulfric." With a confident nod, Lori continued, "I can safely say that Ulfric's folks would readily approve of it if Lynn and Ulfric started to go out."

"That's good," Lynn Sr. remarked, "That's good. After that little bastard whatshisname broke Junior's heart, I was worried about how she would recover. Thank goodness that Ulfric boy is an upstanding young man who I have no doubt will do right by Junior, assuming they both end up going out with each other." The three oldest Loud girls and Lincoln nodded in agreement with the Loud patriarch before he made his way to the living room to relax for a bit.

* * *

Due to how tired he was after work, Lynn Sr. simply decided to order a few pizzas rather than try to cook. After all of the cooking that he did today, Lynn Sr. wanted someone to do the cooking for him for a change; luckily, the local pizza place was more than willing to do so. After the Louds that were present in Royal Woods had their fill of pizza-y goodness, the kids decided to spread throughout the house to do their own respective things. This allowed Lynn Sr. himself to rest and relax in the living room.

…Or so he thought.

After depositing the plate that he used to hold his two pizza slices in the sink, Lynn Sr. made his way into the living room, intent on watching the sports channel. However, when he arrived in the living room, he saw that Lori was sitting on one end of the sofa while talking on her phone, Leni sat on the other end of the sofa with her feet up on the middle cushion of the sofa (Leni was painting her toenails), and Lincoln sat on the floor, playing a game on his video game console.

" _They_ … _they were in the dining room not thirty seconds ago_ ," Lynn Sr. thought as he regarded his two oldest and his only son, " _How_ … _how did they settle down like that so quickly_?" Not wanting to try and disrupt his children out of worrying that he might upset them again, Lynn Sr. decided instead to walk into the living room and attempt to make small talk with his kids. "Hey Lori, Leni, sport," Lynn Sr. said in a friendly enough tone, getting the attention of his three kids in the process, "What are you doing?"

"I was actually just telling Carol about how cute Lynn was with Ulfric earlier," Lori explained.

"I'm, like, painting my toenails this shade of color that's totes cute," Leni replied.

"I'm playing a video game," Lincoln remarked casually.

"Cool, cool," Lynn Sr. replied, "So, uhh…you're all enjoying yourselves?" The two oldest Loud girls and the sole Loud boy all looked up at the Loud patriarch with mildly confused, not sure what to make of his seemingly hesitant and unsure attitude. The three of them all exchanged looks with each other before turning back to regard Lynn Sr.

"…Sure, Lori, Leni and I are all doing okay," Lincoln said, sounding just as unsure as the Loud patriarch, but out of confusion rather than being hesitant. Turning to regard the TV, Lincoln quickly fiddled around with the game in order to turn the game off, and eventually the system itself. Getting up from where he sat on the floor, Lincoln said, "I'm going to guess that you're going to want to watch the news, Mr. Loud?"

There it was once again; the fact that out of everyone in the family, Lynn Sr. was the only one that Lincoln yet to forgive for what happened during the whole bad luck deal. Hearing Lincoln once again refer to him as 'Mr. Loud' rather than some variation of 'dad' was like an arrow from a bow shot the Loud family patriarch in the heart. Lynn Sr. desperately wanted Lincoln to acknowledge him as a parent once again, but he had no idea how he could go about earning his son's forgiveness.

Lynn Sr. also noticed out of the corner of his vision that both Lori and Leni were watching him talk to Lincoln. The Loud patriarch had a feeling that if Lincoln stopped playing that video game just so he could take over the TV to watch sports, then Lori and Leni would both be a little upset, in a disappointed manner. Lynn Sr. had to pay his cards right here, otherwise he might have more than one child alienated from him.

"…Actually, I was just going to head over to the bookshelf, grab one of my political thriller books, and relax in my armchair," Lynn Sr. said, figuring that it'd be a believable enough lie to fool his kids. It wasn't even a complete lie either; Lynn Sr. actually did have a political thriller novel on the bookshelf that he's been meaning to read for quite some time, and if doing so would allow him to avoid incurring mild scorn from his two oldest daughters, then the Loud patriarch would be more than glad to catch up on his reading.

"Oh, okay then," Lincoln replied, "I actually wanted to head up to my room anyway to go over the book on Kendo that Aggro-sensei let me borrow again."

"You sure have read that book a lot, sport," Lynn Sr. remarked, sounding mildly impressed that his son is taking a physical activity seriously "You're taking that martial art as seriously as Junior takes her sports."

"Linky's gotten pretty good," Leni said with a hint of a giggle in her tone, getting Lynn Sr., Lori and Lincoln to all turn and face her, "But then again, he's had someone as amazing as Aggro to teach him how to play sword fighting, so you've, like, got to figure that Linky would get really good, like, really quick." After Lincoln said to Leni that Kendo isn't a game of sword-fighting but rather an actual martial art, Lincoln took his leave to head up to his room.

When Lincoln was gone, Lynn Sr. turned to regard his two oldest daughters. "So, uhh, girls," the Loud patriarch began, "How are you and your siblings getting along with your brother?"

"You're worried that you're literally the only one Lincoln has yet to forgive, aren't you?" Lori asked right before having to end her call, both her tone and expression deadpan. Lynn Sr. wasn't surprised that his oldest child was able to read him like a book; Lori always had something of a knack for that skill. But then again, Lynn Sr. was being kind of obvious about it.

Sighing in a defeated and resigned tone, Lynn Sr. replied, "I have no idea what to do to show Lincoln how sorry I am for my part in driving him away, girls." Walking over to his armchair, Lynn Sr. slumped down and said, "I don't suppose you can give me some ideas, can you?"

"Actually, we all did something different for Lincoln to forgive us," Lori began to explain, "Lucy got some sort of heat-of-the-moment type deal when Lincoln saw her get punched in the eye by a bully, Lincoln let Lily off the hook because she's only a baby, he forgave the pets because they're animals that acted out of instinct rather than humans who acted out of superstition, Lincoln forgave the twins after they both worked together to practically make a bakery for him, Lynn pushed Lincoln out of the way of some serious danger and ended up taking said danger in his place, Leni had a number of heart-to-heart moments with Lincoln, Luan not only cheered up all of us when Pop-Pop had to go to the hospital but she also promised to refrain from doing her April Fool's level pranks ever again, Lisa helped Lincoln and some of his friends get ready for a really important test, Luna realized exactly how badly her part in what happened hurt Lincoln and had a heart-to-heart with him…" Taking a slight pause to seemingly reflect on something, Lori continued, "And I led the way to make sure that Lincoln's feelings and decisions were respected."

"What did your mother do?" Lynn Sr. asked, a curious and mildly confused look on his face.

"I'm…not sure what mom did, exactly," Lori admitted, "I think that Lincoln let mom off the hook to help give weight to her side of the argument she had with you back when you were literally being stupid over the fusion restaurant business."

"I think Linky also said something about not really being able to hold a grudge against mom forever because what kind of son could do that to the woman who brought him into the world?" Leni added, drawing a nod of agreement from Lori.

Sighing in a defeated tone, Lynn Sr. remarked, "I guess that my behavior made things for difficult for me in the long run, huh?"

"That is literally what I thought the moment Lincoln referred to mom as mom while still referring to you as Mr. Loud," Lori remarked dryly. Seeing her father slump in a way that conveyed depression, Lori continued, "But now that your head is clear, you can clearly think on how to fix your relationship with Lincoln, dad."

"How about doing some father-son activities with Linky?" Leni suggested, "I bet that if you showed how much you really cared about him, Linky is bound to come around!"

"…Hey," Lynn Sr. remarked in a mildly impressed tone. Getting up from his armchair, Lynn Sr. continued, "That isn't a bad idea at all!" Pumping a fist into the air, Lynn Sr. declared, "Tomorrow, I'm going to take Lincoln with me so we can spend the day together doing some father-son activities!"

"Just make sure to ask Lincoln if he wants to do it rather than force him into it," Lori advised, "Forcing Lincoln into doing something is the mistake that Lynn literally made that caused the whole mess to begin with."

"Right," Lynn Sr. replied as he pointed to Lori in a commending manner.

* * *

A few short moments later, Lynn Sr. was upstairs in the second-floor hallway, making his way right over to Lincoln's bedroom door. As he got close, the Loud patriarch saw signs of back when the door used to be boarded-up to ensure that Lincoln wouldn't be able to sleep in the room that was a converted linin closet. The sight of those signs of what used to be made Lynn Sr. take pause, as well as sigh in a resigned tone. Gathering his resolve once again, Lynn Sr. made his way over to Lincoln's bedroom door and knocked on it a few times.

"Lincoln?" Lynn Sr. called out, "You in there, sport?"

"You need something?" Lincoln's voice said from the side, making Lynn Sr. turn around and see Lincoln standing there, accompanied by Lola. For some reason that Lynn Sr. couldn't explain, Lincoln was dressed up in a very nice suit. When Lynn Sr. made a note of this, Lincoln explained, "Lola wanted me to play with her, acting as her butler for a tea party" Looking up at the man who he has yet to acknowledge as a parent again, Lincoln continued, "Anywho, is there something that you need, sir?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you'd be willing to join me for the day tomorrow," Lynn Sr. explained, "I figured that we could head to the go-cart tracks, grab lunch at Gus', maybe try some fishing." Giving Lincoln a mildly hopeful look, Lynn Sr. asked, "You interested?"

"…" Giving his ex-father a dry look, Lincoln said, "We're going to have to skip the fishing. The fishing rods were sold at a yard sale, remember?"

"…Oh yeah," Lynn Sr. replied in a mildly embarrassed tone, "I forgot about that."

With a small but appreciative smile on his face, Lincoln added, "But other than that, I think that your plan for tomorrow actually sounds pretty great. I'm looking forward to it." Seeing that Lincoln actually agreed to his plans for tomorrow made Lynn Sr. feel relieved.

"Well alright, then!" Lynn Sr. replied, a hint of excitement in his tone, "We'll leave after breakfast tomorrow."

"Sounds fair," Lincoln agreed. After a few more pleasantries were exchanged, Lynn Sr. took his leave, allowing Lola to take Lincoln back and continue to use him as her butler for a tea party. The Loud patriarch was relieved that his attempt to reconcile with his son was actually off to a good start. If he played his cards right, then Lynn Sr. might finally be forgiven.

Lynn Sr. hoped like hell that his plan would work.

* * *

After breakfast the following morning, Lynn Sr. took Lincoln with him into town. The first place that they tried going to was the go-kart track, but it was close when they got there, even though it should have been open by the time they arrived. Thankfully, one helpful go-kart track employee said that the track was closed in order for the staff to handle some clean-up, and that the track should be open sometime around noon. With the slight dent in the plans he had for his day with Lincoln fixed, Lynn Sr. decided to turn things around by heading over to the local movie theater. There, Lynn Sr. and Lincoln saw a movie that the latter picked out.

After the fun they had watching a movie at the theater, Lynn Sr. and Lincoln went over to Gus' for lunch, as they still had approximately an hour before the go-kart track was expected to open. The two guys of the Loud family had lunch, then they made their way over to the go-kart track, where it was finally open.

"Hey, why don't we try one of those two-person karts, Lincoln?" Lynn Sr. suggested.

"Sure, why not?" Lincoln replied as he followed Lynn Sr. over to where they could rent one of the go-karts so they could race around the track. Once Lynn Sr. and Lincoln got their helmets, they were led over to where they could pick a kart to use. They picked a two-person kart, and after it got onto the track, Lynn Sr. and Lincoln both got in and began to race around the track.

"Wow, this is actually pretty fun," Lincoln said as he and Lynn Sr. sped around the track. Turning to face Lynn Sr., Lincoln said, "Thanks again for today, da-"

Lincoln was cut off when something hit him in the back of the head. Seeing something land next to him in the go-kart, Lincoln picked it up, showing that it was a…a plastic turtle shell? "Did someone on the track really throw this toy turtle shell at us?" Lincoln said aloud in a confused tone.

"One of the other-" Lynn Sr. began, but he was cut off when a banana peel smacked him in the face. Thankful that the helmet he wore kept the banana peel from actually smacking him in the face, the Loud patriarch peeled the peel off and held it. Regarding the banana peel with a confused look, Lynn Sr. said, "What the-"

Suddenly, a go-kart pulled ahead of the kart that Lynn Sr. and Lincoln were in. It was a one-person kart, and whoever was in it dropped another banana peel on the track, clearly with the hope that the kart that the two Loud guys were in would run over it. Lynn Sr. and Lincoln's kart did run over the tossed banana peel, and…nothing happened, because it would take a hell of a lot more than running over a banana peel to make a go-kart lose control on the track.

"Oh great," Lincoln said in an annoyed tone, "Some idiots are trying to play a real-life version of that racing game on the Playtendo family of games and systems."

"Hey Lincoln," Lynn Sr. began, "I have a question for you." After Lincoln turned to face him, Lynn Sr. continued in a knowing tone, "Are we going to let these idiots beat us?"

Smiling back in an amused tone, Lincoln said, "No way! Let's go!" With both father and son turning their heads to face forward, Lynn Sr. sped up the kart he and Lincoln were in. They soon pulled up alongside the kart that passed them, as while they were next to that cart, Lynn Sr. took the toy turtle shell and tossed it into the kart.

"I think this is yours and your friends'!" Lynn Sr. called out right before he and Lincoln sped ahead to pass that kart driver. After Lynn Sr. and Lincoln got ahead, Lincoln turned around in his seat to look behind him. He saw that in addition to the one-person kart that he and Lynn Sr. had just passed, there was a two-person kart as well. When Lincoln saw the person in the passenger seat of the two-person kart hold up another toy turtle shell, Lincoln knew that the people in both karts were in on the messing around.

"Dad, I think they're gaining on us," Lincoln said in a mildly alarmed tone.

"Then we better push it!" Lynn Sr. replied, putting as much effort as possible into pushing the gas pedal in the kart he and Lincoln were using. The two Loud guys managed to pull further ahead of the two other karts that were on the track. Eventually, Lynn Sr. and Lincoln both saw the finish line for the go-kart track they were on.

"We're almost there!" Lincoln nearly exclaimed.

"Right! This is the final stretch!" Lynn Sr. yelled excitedly. With a final bit of effort, Lynn Sr. and Lincoln sped over the finish line, not only getting away from the two karts that were harassing them but beating them in a race as well. After the kart he and Lincoln were in pulled to a stop, Lynn Sr. got out and stood in front of the kart he used. As the other two karts came to a stop and their respective occupants got out, Lynn took off his helmet. "What is wrong with you punks?!" Lynn Sr. snapped at the trio of mysterious people, all of which were clearly teenagers, "Were you seriously trying to-"

"Whoa, dude!" one of the teenagers called out in a female voice that struck Lincoln as familiar. The owner of that voice, who was the passenger in the two-person kart, took off her helmet, revealing herself as Luna's girlfriend Sam. The other two teenagers also took off their helmets, revealing themselves as some of the boys at school that often rock out with Luna and Sam. "Lincoln! Mr. Loud!" Sam remarked in a surprised tone, "I didn't know you guys would be here at the go-kart track today!"

"Sam?" Lincoln said in a confused tone, "What were you and the other guys here doing?"

"Oh, we were trying to do a real-life version of the racing game on the Playtendo family of systems," Sam explained, "A friend of ours is filming from the bleachers, and we're planning on getting the video up on the internet later." Rubbing the back of her head in a manner that conveyed embarrassment, Sam said, "Heh, sorry that you guys got caught up in our little plan."

"I'll…try to catch your video on the internet later," Lincoln remarked dryly to Sam, "In the meanwhile, I think that my dad and I have to go return our-"

"Hey, you punks!" a random voice called out, making everyone turn to see the same go-kart track employee who told the Loud guys that the track would be open at noon come running up. Shaking a fist at Sam and her friends, the employee said, "You kids are the reason why we had to open late to handle clean-up!"

"Cheese it!" one of the two guys with Sam yelled, prompting himself, Sam and the other guy to run away. The three teenagers all managed to get away from the employee who was trying to chase them. By the time Sam and her friends got away, the employee came up next to Lynn Sr. and Lincoln.

"I'm terribly sorry that those punks ruined your time here at the track," the employee said to Lynn Sr. and Lincoln, "I'll let my boss know what happened. I have no doubt he'll want to try and compensate you two for your troubles."

"That would be nice, yes," Lynn Sr. remarked, and before long the manager of the go-kart track met up with Lynn Sr. and Lincoln. After giving both Loud guys season passes to the go-kart track, Lynn Sr. and Lincoln took their leave.

…

"How can your sister be friends with those kids?" Lynn Sr. asked Lincoln in a tone that was more or less rhetorical, "I mean, really!"

"I have no idea what to tell you about that, dad," Lincoln replied in a tone that showed he was just as lost as the Loud patriarch, shaking his head gently in a manner that further helped to express how lost he was on the notion. Turing his head so as to look up at Lynn Sr., Lincoln continued, "But what I _do_ have an idea what to tell you about is how much-" Lincoln was cut off when Lynn Sr. stopped in place, got down on one knee so that he was level with Lincoln, threw his arms around him and gently dragged him into a hug.

"Thank you, sport," Lynn Sr. said in a gentle tone, a single tear falling down the side of his face. Lincoln recognized the tone that the Loud patriarch had just used and realized right away why he was using that tone. Lincoln gently threw his arms around Lynn Sr. so as to being hugging the Loud patriarch back.

"…No problem, dad," Lincoln replied.

* * *

Later that day, after Lynn Sr. and Lincoln got back from the go-kart track, they told the girls about their day. …Well, Lincoln told them, Lynn Sr. just sat by and watched as his son was having fun regaling the girls with stories about the day that he had. "Dude, I am so sorry about what Sam and the guys did," Luna said in an apologetic tone.

"Well in their defense, they didn't know it was me and dad who was in that kart," Lincoln pointed out, "So try not to be too mad at them, okay?"

"Yeah, that fair enough I sup-" Lori began, but she stopped short when she realized something. "…Lincoln," Lori said, "What did you say?"

"…That Luna shouldn't be too hard on her friends?" Lincoln replied.

"No, before that," Lori clarified.

Realizing then what his older sister was trying to get at, Lincoln had a small but knowing smile. "…I said that they didn't know that it was me and dad in that kart," Lincoln said, "But once they saw that it was us, they-" Lincoln was cut off when the girls all gathered around him and formed a group hug, with Lincoln in the middle of that group hug. Some of the girls cheered, and one or two cried out of relief, but the sentiment was the same.

Lincoln had finally forgiven Lynn Sr.

They were all a family again.

END, RESTORED IMAGE

Author's notes:

I could tell from some of the reviews I got on the first version of this chapter that said version was _very_ unpopular. I would once again like to offer my most sincere apologies. I thought that the previous version of this chapter, which teased the beginning of another story that I've been wanting to get up, was a good idea. To quote Thorin Oakenshield, I have never been so wrong in all my life.

I've actually been under a lot of stress ever since 2018 began; since I graduated the previous year, I've been trying like hell to find a job. The job hunt has me so stressed and worried that I must have lost some of my ability to think straight. Also, since I've taken to uploading chapters of this story up on Mondays and Fridays, I was also mildly worried that I'd disappoint some of you by missing a day where this story was usually updated. But I guess that I caused even more disappointment by trying to save time with a chapter that teased another story, huh? What I did was not fair to the rest of you, and I would once again like to apologize for it. Now that I've had the chance to cool down from my post-college worries and taken care of fixing the hot mess that this chapter used to be, I hope that we can all put the past behind us and agree that the previous version of this chapter never happened.

Again, I'm sorry.


End file.
